Final Fantasy 8: Soul junction
by SDI hyper
Summary: Sequel to Final Fantasy 8: Complete Junction. Carbuncle’s memory is gone, Shadow’s still around and so is Griever, What’s next? A war, and the Garden is caught in the middle.Chocoboy x Nida, Squall x Ifrit, Zell x Bahamut, Seifer x Shadow, Zone ? Yaoi
1. Chapter 1

Final Fantasy 8: Soul Junction

Sequel to Final Fantasy 8: Complete Junction. There's nothing left to do now, Carbuncle's memory is gone, Shadow's still around and so is Griever, What's next? Chocoboy x Nida, Squall x Ifrit, Zell x Bahamut, Seifer x Shadow Yaoi

Chapter One: Familiarity breeds contempt

One week after the Shadow's attack on the Garden and things were finally getting back to normal. The students moved out of Balamb and into the Garden again 2 days ago, yesterday classes resumed, and today was as normal as things were going to get. The one thing that was actually abnormal was the tension between the students, they were all uneasy now that Seifer was back... with Shadow.

Shadow was the one that made them the most uneasy, he a was one of the creatures that took over the Garden in the first place. In reality he wasn't, this was just his form and it was similar to them. Those who knew him knew that he clearly wasn't one of those creatures, not to mention he was much bigger (Cho's size in fact) and stronger. That didn't change the fact that everyone hated him, and Seifer, and moved away slowly when he was around as if he'd attack if they made sudden movements.

"I'm a SeeD now." Cho said, pulling himself off Nida's bed with a small yawn. He glanced over at the clock on the nightstand being illuminated by stray sunlight through closed blinds. "So why did I still have to go to all my old classes?"

Nida stretched his arms outward as he laid back against his pillow, "Because your still technically a Junior classmen, that's why you never were sent on any field missions... until tonight that is." Nida let his hands rest behind his head as he looked over at Cho, instead of searching for his usual clothing which were scatted somewhere along the floor he walked out of the bedroom and headed for the shower.

"I'll give it to you Cho." Nida called from the bed, still unwilling to move "I was sure that you'd be expelled from your title before now Inauguration but you made it."

"Damn right!" Cho shouted, his voice was almost covered by the sound of rushing water that started. The volume was inconsistent so he figured the boy was still trying to get the temperature right.

"You know they're not going to take it easy on you tomorrow." Nida glanced back at the clock, wondering if he should get up now or did he have time to spare. The bed was overtly inviting at the worse times and Nida was never one to be late.

"I don't want them too." Cho called back, this time from inside the shower "And I got Shadow on my side."

"Hmm..." Nida did feel better about this whole thing with Shadow with Cho. Another thing no one knew about Shadow, he made a good Guardian despite his attitude and his sometimes violent nature. "Do you think you can handle the work load? Your still a Junior even if your a SeeD, you have to finish all of your classes and take missions."

"I think I can handle it." Cho still sounded completely confident in himself though he didn't know how much work he was in for.

"Well Congratulations." Nida said, pausing for a moment when he heard the door quietly open and quite footsteps walk through. The only person that walked that quietly was Shadow, and the only time he walked through a door was when he was announcing his presence so that whoever was inside wouldn't be surprised. "I'm proud of you."

Shadow walked into the room, his blood red eyes scanning over his surrounding carefully, "..." He hadn't said anything, though that wasn't surprising since he'd gotten unusually quiet after last week. It was easy to see he was still guilty over what he did, Cho was still healing from it. Whom he was currently looking for.

"Hey Shadow."

Shadow glanced behind him, finding a dripping we Cho, half naked save for the towel wrapped around his waist. "Wow you're really losing it, I would have never been able to get that close to you with out you noticing before." Cho petted him on the head and Shadow quickly shook his hand off and grunted. "So what do you want to know? You look like you want to ask something."

Nida glanced over at Cho "That was a quick shower."

"I'm not done." Cho rested his hands on the back of his neck casually and looked back towards Shadow.

"What's a SeeD?" He asked.

"Glad you asked." Cho said in his mater-of-factly tone that he always used when he was explaining something, or trying to make a sale "I'll explain it to you in the shower."

"What?" Shadow raised an eyebrow questioningly, though it was hard to see since he didn't usually show what he was feeling or any feeling for that matter. He didn't know how since he was still getting use to it.

"You smell like you were training. If your going to come to the inauguration party you have to clean up." Cho pushed him toward the bathroom from behind while Shadow tried to figure out what he was talking about and why he was being involved.

"What is that?"

"Well it's a where all the new SeeDs get together with all the older SeeDs and the teachers and stuff. Probably going to be boring."

"No."

Cho gave him one final push and sent Shadow stumbling in to the bathroom, almost falling from an unexpectedly wet floor. "Why not?" Cho wined, pulling the towel off himself and placing on his sink. "Come on, please."

"No." He wasn't sold on the fact that everyone hated him, now he'd be in the same room with _SeeDs_ all night. He didn't want to put himself through that, especially if he couldn't kill anyone.

"Come on, go with me. It just wont be fun with out you." Cho took out that same Vanilla shampoo and pouring it generously into his palm, he used more then before this time. So much so that it began to run down the sides of his hand and on to Shadow's back for a few seconds until Cho deemed it enough.

"No." Shadow said stubbornly as Cho pushed him abruptly into the tub, his body was immediately met with warm water causing his fur to sag and his ears to perk. It wasn't too hard to hear Cho snickering behind him with his senses, meaning it was also easy for him to pick up the Vanilla being lathered into his drenched fur. Shadow's noise flared and he immediately relaxed, it was soothing.

"Then what are you going to do all night." Cho asked, softly massaging his fingers into Shadow's fur and filling the black hair with white foam. He had to admit, it was hard washing a dog who was as tall as he was, but Shadow wasn't exactly a dog.

"What do I usually do." He shot back sarcastically. His nose flared again and he caught himself closing his eyes for a quick second as the scent of Vanilla surrounded him. This had to be one of his favorite things about this world, it had so much appeal to the senses, even Cho's scrubbing felt good. He wouldn't have minded staying like this for a few hours.

"Exactly! So come with me, forget about everyone else." Cho moved his fingers teasingly up his head and scratched behind his ears. The sudden sensation caused Shadow to lean back and open his mouth slightly. "I'll get you some vanilla ice cream after words."

He wasn't sure what ice cream was but the vanilla part sounded tempting, if it was anything like this shampoo. "...I'm not going."

"Come on, Since when did you care about what everyone else thought about you? Your the same guy that thought the humans would die out a million years ago." Cho said, stifling a laugh as the foam drifted over the wolf's eyes.

Shadow shook himself in a very canine like manner, sending a flurry of shampoo and water at Cho. The former tyrant GF snorted and gave a small bark "Alright I'll go."

"Yes!" Cho reached upward and turned the shower head on himself and Shadow, rinsing out any remaining soap from both of them. "Now let's cut that fur."

"Don't push it," Shadow growled firmly.

"Kidding." Cho backed off the subject though he was considering it, not that he'd actually attempt to do something like that, he liked Shadow's fur...though Cho couldn't help thinking it was a horrible mess after being washed as he turned off the water. Usually it would work itself back into it's normal form after a few hours but he didn't have that long. "But I'm going to have to comb it."

"What's that?" Shadow watched as Cho pulled a comb out of the cabinet and ran it through his fur. "What's the point of this?"

"So you can look nice...or at least neat...or less wild." Cho searched for the right words and still couldn't find the right one, finally he just gave up after wild.

"I don't care what they think remember?"

"I don't really care what everyone else thinks, it's kinda like a habit. People want you to look nice for these type of things, stand up strait and all of that." Cho started to move to other areas of Shadow's fur, finding it to be an easier task then he expected.

"Why are you doing it if you don't care?" Shadow asked. "This is too much trouble, I'm not going."

"I'm a finally going to be an Official SeeD, I have to look good for the occasion...Oh that reminds me." Cho's managed to remind himself about something he wanted to tell Shadow, he couldn't believe he'd forgotten. "It's my first mission tomorrow."

"I'll be ready." Shadow agreed instantly, it was his first time _officially_ being a GF and a good time to show off his training.

"Since it's my first mission tomorrow that's why you have to come with me to night." Cho was thankful Shadow's fur was wet because there was no way he'd be able to comb it otherwise.

"This is that important to you?" Shadow tilted his head back and allowed Cho to comb the fur between his ears. "I don't get it."

"Of course you don't, nothing was ever really important to you...It's so hard to explain this type of thing, I guess you'll just have to find something like that to get it. "

Shadow already had found something important to him, nothing else seemed to come first any more. Not his power, not his pride, not everything he ruled over before, not even everything he'd learned in his hundreds of years of existence. It was Cho...whom he stilled held much desire to mate with, just as strong as the first time he saw him, Maybe that had something to do with it... 'Damn it, these Human emotions aren't worth the effort.' "Alright I'll go damnit."

"Yess! Now the only thing we have to do is grooming." Cho said with a large trademark grin, Shadow knew he wouldn't like it. He thought he wouldn't even dare to ask this but he wanted Shadow to look his best also, though he thought he wouldn't a moment ago, it seemed like he had no choice.

"Grooming?"

"Your fur, it's every where. The only thing we need to do is... cut it."

Shadow pulled away "Your pushing it again."

"Seriously! It will make you look a whole lot better." Cho lightly began to scratch behind Shadow's ear as he reached for a pair of scissors on the edge of the sink. "Please, Please! I promise you'll look great." Cho begged. "Come on, everyone likes a clean dog!"

Shadow glared at him, making Cho freeze with the scissors only an inches from a strand of black fur. "I'm not a dog, don't call me that!"

"Sorry." Cho rubbed his head nervously, "Just let me do it, I'll never ask again."

Shadow look at him for a moment, he didn't know why this was important but he didn't like the idea of someone cutting anything off of him. "Fine." Shadow snorted, laying down and closing his eyes while Cho slowly lifted the scissors over the untamed hair on the top of the wolf's head. he leaned forward to get a better angle and...'Whoa...' Cho started losing his footing on the wet floor and stumbled forward, the scissor in turn slipped past the strands and sliced through the top of his ear. 'Oh crap!'

Shadow laid as still as ever as if he didn't even notice that the tip of his ear was laying on the ground beside him. Cho could only stand there apprehensively, afraid to make another move. Shadow glanced up at him. "Why aren't you..." He saw the look on Cho's face and knew something was wrong, he immediately followed Cho's eyes down to the piece of his ear. Which made him growl "Wha--"

"I'm sorry it was an accident." Cho lifted his hands in defeat and dropped the scissors immediately. "I'm not so good at this...Nida can do it."

Shadow snorted, twitching his injured ear slightly and letting the black shadows surrounding his body slide upward and replace the severed part. "If he's anything like you..."

! - ! - !

Nida walked into the doorway with a sleepy yawn and nothing but his boxers. "Finally decided to get an hair cut huh?" He said with a small chuckle, taking Cho's place and kneeling beside Shadow.

Shadow looked up at him in mild annoyance.

"Alright I quit." He said defeated, running his hands through the fur on his back and taking a handful. "You know I didn't think you'd actually go."

"..."

"To think Cho can actually wear _you_ down."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing." Nida shrugged, carefully trimming the messy entanglement of fur. He took the comb from the sink and gave Shadow's back a quick stroke before he started cutting again. "Just that you don't seem to like the idea very much, and your pretty stubborn."

"Are you saying I'm getting weak?"

"No not at all. People who occasionally give in and force themselves to do something they don't want to show they have reason." Nida said, brushing his wrist against Shadow's ears to push them down slightly as he began cutting the top of his head. "You just seem like you _really_ don't want to do this."

"Too much trouble, I don't want to be bothered with it." Shadow said casually, folding his paws over his each other and resting his head on them.

"Maybe...or at least that's what your telling yourself." Nida moved carefully down Shadow's neck, equally combing as much as he cut, making sure Shadow's was strait as he needed it before proceeding. "Maybe you don't want to be bothered, but I think that your don't want to do this because you know everyone there hates you."

Shadow glanced up at him with one red eye "The views of humans don't concern me, it doesn't matter what they think of me."

"It shouldn't should it? I know your probably wondering why you care about it, why it feels the way it dose when you know no one likes you, when they all just wish you'd just disappear and go off and die some where with out a second thought. Lonely eh?" Nida looked down at Shadow, making sure he couldn't see him looking.

"..." Shadow opened his eyes for a moment, staring blankly at the wall. He quickly closed them again "Whatever, If that's true why would I be bothered with this whole thing. I don't have to be doing this, it doesn't matter what your hormonal peers think."

"I think all of that time you spent not feeling anything is making this even harder. That if you ignore it long enough then it will go back to the way it was and you wont feel it anymore." Nida shifted positions and settled on the other side of Shadow. "I've been living in this world all my life, it doesn't get any better. If any thing it only get's worse."

"...Then why am I here, what is the point of these damned emotions? They're just reactions in the brain that make you weak." Shadow snorted.

"You must have a reason, or else you would have left already."

"And what makes you think you can talk about me like you know me."

"I do know you." Nida couldn't help but smirk.

"Human."

"Familiarity breeds contempt." Nida started dusting off the lose fur from Shadow's body. Speaking before Shadow could get another word "Done. Tell me if you like it."

Shadow stood up and shook himself to clear anything Nida, he hadn't even noticed how long he'd been laying there, or how much hair was there. Did he even have any left? He felt lighter...Shadow walked out of the bathroom towards the mirror in Nida's room, but he encountered a very happy and fully dressed Cho on the way.

"Whoa! You look much better!" Cho said, "Nida did a much better job then I would have."

Shadow glanced over Cho with a quick once over look. The boy now had his SeeD uniform on for the first time, his hair messy had been combed and his appearance was much neater then it had been any previous time in his life. He even stood up straighter then usual just as he said before. "Your..."

"I look good huh?" Cho said proudly "I gotta look my best, I have to make a good impression."

Shadow gave up on words to describe it and walked past him into Nida's bedroom "Why are you so concerned about it? It's just a gathering of other humans." Shadow said, looking over himself in the mirror sitting next to the window. Now that his hair was cut he looked a lot... slimmer, much neater, and his fur was short enough for him to wonder about warmth in cold places. It was practically pressed against his body, this was a completely new experience to see himself like this.

"Everyone thinks I just a kid, I have to do really good and prove that I'm SeeD material. One mistake and they'll probably just say I'm too immature or not strong enough."

"Hmm..." Shadow walked back in to the living room and took his usual position on the couch, he didn't think he was ready for this. Being there, with all of those people, and he knew all of the attention would be on him and Cho. The thought made his shudder, he didn't understand how something like this could effect him so much. He almost backed out of the whole thing right there...but then he remember why he was doing this, for Cho.

"Only a half-hour left Cho, you better get..." Nida's voice trailed off as he emerge from the bathroom with a towel around his waist and a damp body. He couldn't believe he was looking at Cho, it was such a difference. 'He looks...amazing...'

"So, how do I look?" Cho asked, Sure he thought he looked alright but it didn't mean much unless Nida thought so too.

"Great..." Nida couldn't help but stare at a lose of words, he had to regrettably force himself out of it though, he had to be there early and help set up. Just as well, seeing him like this made him want to do things to him...

! - ! - !


	2. Chapter 2: Inauguration

Chapter 2: Inauguration

Zell yawned sleepily as a knock on the door pulled him to consciousness, making him give an aggravated mumble as he stood up from his couch. Awaken by a knock on the door. He took a quick look around, Carbuncle was laying next to him, and Bahamut was gone, though that wasn't unusual. "I coming, I'm coming..." He called out as he made his way toward the door, rubbing his eyes to softly.

He opened the door "Nida? What are you doing here?"

"Zell? Your not ready yet?" Nida looked over him in surprise "Do you know what time it is?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Nida could tell by Zell's dazed expression that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "Hello, SeeD inauguration, one hour."

"Hour?" Zell rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, I forgot about that."

"Figured as much." Nida shrugged, this is why he came in the first place. "So where's Carbuncle? How's he doing?"

Zell tilled his head toward the couch as he walked past to get to his room. "He's a little better, still doesn't remember much...I'm sure he never will."

"Seriously?" Nida looked over Carbuncle solemnly, it saddening, Carbuncle knew so much. And now... "There's no way to get it back?"

"Nope." Zell sighed, shifting through his closet for his uniform "That damn thing that did this to him..."

Nida sat down next to the small GF, rubbing his head softly "Yeah, what exactly happened to him?"

"A shadow." Zell told him. "When he went after me in Time Compression, one of those shadows possessed him. I think that's how they all got here in the first place, it led them all through to our time from Carbuncle...If he had only listened to me..."

"Hmm..." Nida didn't respond, he just kept his eyes down on Carbuncle "We'll, it could have been worse, he could have forgotten everything completely."

"Yeah, your right I guess..."

! - ! - !

Seifer looked around as he walked into Cho's room, tapping his Gunblade against his shoulder almost impatiently. The first thing he noticed was Shadow laying across the couch, the second he noticed was his expression, he was tempted to make a smart comment but he decided to tone it down. Shadow didn't look exactly in the best of moods, even though he had been a little off since he injured Cho, this was a little _too_ off. "Whoa, what happened to you?"

Shadow's eyes shifted towards him and then back towards the wall he was glaring at.

"They finally cut all that hair." Seifer sat on the couch next to Shadow, laying his sword on the table nearby "Your letting Cho groom you, your really turning into a dog now."

"I am not a dog!" Shadow growled, literally a growl came out at the same time as he spoke.

"Yeah yeah." Seifer waved discardingly, "What's with you anyway."

"There's nothing wrong with me." Shadow told him firmly.

Seifer placed his feet on the coffee table next to his Gunblade and let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling. "Come on, your not good at hiding things."

Cho emerged from the bedroom, one arm resting behind his head and the other lazily hanging from his side. "Seifer." He gave a small wave as he stood over him "Are you going to the inauguration party?"

Seifer snorted, internally scowling to him himself that set back. "Not a SeeD, remember?"

Cho shrugged "That doesn't mean you can't come."

"Alright, I'll make it clear brat. I'm _not_ going."

Cho looked at him for a moment, almost disappointedly "Alright then."

Seifer watched the boy leave, noting the drastic change in appearance and the obvious effort put into it. Then he glanced over at Shadow, then he was able to easily put it all together "Your going with him to the inauguration party."

"...Yes." Shadow was hesitant to answer, Seifer noticed.

Seifer smirked "Sounds like you don't want too."

"No, I don't" There was no uncertainty when he spoke of it this time.

"Your still going though with it?" Seifer knew Shadow wasn't the type to do anything he didn't want to do, stubborn as he was.

Shadow shifted lightly and continued staring at the wall. "I'm not sure I'm going to even bother. This is too much trouble."

Seifer laughed "Oh you are so full of it, too much trouble my ass. If you didn't do everything that was too much trouble then you would have left last week."

Shadow glanced up at him "You--...I'm still not going. I don't want to be bothered with all of these humans. I barely tolerate you."

"You know what it is?" Seifer lifted his head and looked down at Shadow completely "I think your scared."

"Scared, I fear nothing, especially in this world." Shadow shot back.

Seifer looked at him for a moment, then laid his head back again and continued staring up at the ceiling "That's not the kind of scared I meant...you know all of those people hate you, and you don't want to go."

Shadow looked up at him completely now "If they hate me...Then what's the point of doing this? There's no reason I have to go, there's no need for me to be there."

Seifer paused for a moment. "Your doing it for Cho, because if you back out, the little brat will probably back out too. And you know he really wants to go."

Shadow turned back towards the wall, "Why aren't you going?"

"I'm not a SeeD."

"Neither am I, But I'm going." Shadow said, "Go with me."

Seifer continued looking up, his mind deliberating the thought. He couldn't tell Shadow to go and then not go for the same reason Shadow didn't want to. "If I go, I'm sticking in the back by the drinks...I'm going to need one." He said, finally deciding to get up.

"Where are you going?" Shadow asked.

"I need to talk to somebody."

! - ! - !

Squall took a look around the familiar place, now deemed his new office, or at least it would have been if the cockpit wasn't sitting in the way. The thought of him running the Garden still gave him a headache, but it didn't look like he had much of a choice so he had to except it.

But it did leave a question to be answered, 'What the hell am I supposed to do now?'

He didn't have a shortage of work, off the top of his head he knew there were still some repairs that were still needed to be done. Which meant they would be heading for FH again tomorrow, and he still needed to get the assignments ready for the new SeeD's first mission tomorrow. How both were going to work out...

He could think about that latter, SeeD inauguration was less then an hour off.

"Squall?"

Squall looked back, finding himself staring into Ifrit's chest. "Where is this going?" Ifrit asked, holding a large box on his shoulder.

"Right there is fine." Squall said, wondering how he was going to fit all of his things up here...Maybe if he went under the cockpit... Squall slid past the long pillar that held up the cockpit above them, finding it basically as much as room as before and completely empty, but as much as was needed for a bed room, better yet least storage. If he put a door behind the lift then it'd work out. "Never mind, back here is even better."

Ifrit nodded and crossed the room, sliding through from in-between the poll and setting the box down next to Squall.

"Lionhart, Where the hell are you?"

Squall rubbed his head and sighed 'What the hell dose he want.' "What is it Seifer?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"So you going to take him?" Nida asked, still petting Carbuncle who had made his way into Nida's lap as he slept. He felt bad that he hadn't had time to talk to Carbuncle since they got back to the garden, he knew it had to be hard not being able to remember anything.

Zell emerged from the bathroom, soaked from just finishing a shower, he ran the large towel through his hair as he walked past when he knew Nida wasn't looking. He was pressed for time. "Yeah, I don't think I can leave him alone. It'd be too hard on him."

"Yeah, I guess it would." Nida nodded, just barely catching a glimpse of his watch.. "Oh man! I was supposed to help set up...to late now." He might as well stay, it was too late to do anything now anyway, he just couldn't believe he forgot so easily...His sudden elevated voice was enough to wake Carbuncle.

"..." Carbuncle shifted a little under a touch he knew was familiar and opened his eyes to an unfamiliar placed. "Wha...what?" Carbuncle lifted himself on to his feet from under Nida's hand and then looked up questioningly at him. He felt a small pang telling him that he should have remembered something about this person, this person was important but it was barely a blur if anything.

"Carbuncle, do you remember me?" Nida asked.

Carbuncle tried, he tried his best, straining his mind to it's limit trying to think of this person and why he was important, but there was nothing "No..." Carbuncle said with an annoyed sigh, Nida looked hurt when he said that, making Carbuncle feel even worse, "I'm sorry, but feel like I should...I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Nida rubbed his head lightly, "My name is Nida, nice to meet you." He had to admit, that did hurt. Carbuncle remembered Cho but not him, but it wasn't his fault, he shouldn't have felt bad about it, but it still felt bad.

Carbuncle nodded "I really should remember you and I know it..."

"Don't worry about it to much. It's not your fault." Nida reassured him, rubbing the small GF's head again. Carbuncle sighed and laid back down, he knew this touch, it felt familiar, to have soft hands that rarely saw battles rubbing him in this way. He should remember this person.

Zell emerged from the bed room in SeeD uniform and all, "So, how do I look?" He asked standing in front of them both.

"Great." Carbuncle immediately responded.

Nida looked him over closely "Cleaner then usual." Then he picked up the small GF and set him down in Zell's arms, "We better go, it's almost time."

Zell nodded and looked down at Carbuncle "Ready to go?"

"Junction?"

"Uh-huh."

! - ! - !

! - !- !

Cho looked around the ballroom in amazement, he'd never seen a room so big. Marble floors laid out in intricate designs, reflective enough to see the bright lights from the ceiling in. Nicely laid out decorations, food, champagne, and there were so many people here, a good amount not even SeeDs. "Whoa! Look at this place." He said excitedly.

"Well you made it." Nida said, taking a look around. It amazed him how they could make this so much different every year. "I'm proud of you Cho."

"Yeah Yeah." Seifer waved off his comment, still unable to believe that someone Cho's age became a SeeD before he did, and he was coming here with him. Of course he had to clean up his own appearance a bit, change his cloths from the usual. "This is going to be a long night."

Shadow looked around, finding eyes slowly averting towards them, Seifer was right, this would be a long night.

Seifer picked up a glass off of the tray of a passing waiter, "Anyone feeling claustrophobic?" He took a sip, Then glanced over at a boy walking past who didn't seem to happy to see him or Shadow here "Let me rephrase that, any dogs feeling claustrophobic, because I think I need some air."

"I'm not a dog." Shadow barked.

Cho immediately stepped in front of them "Hey wait! You can't go now. We just got here."

"Relax, just going to the balcony..." Seifer said "Before I hurt someone."

"Uh...wouldn't want that I guess." Cho shrugged disappointedly, but he knew how bad Seifer's temper could get, and he didn't exactly have self control. "Well, I still got you Nida."

Nida smiled and ruffled the boy's hair "Of course. Now go have some fun."

Cho nodded and grabbed his arm, "Yeah!" He ran forward dragging Nida behind, nearly running into the passing Zell.

"Whoa...someone's happy." Zell rubbed his head as he watched Cho and Nida. 'So, Carbuncle, Bahamut, how dose it look.'

'Whoa...' Carbuncle looked around in amazement through Zell's eyes 'This is so cool, look at this place.'

'This place looks amazing.' Bahamut commented, 'I've never seen something this extravagant.'

"Glad you like it, how about we go get some Champagne, I'm not leaving this party sober."

'Why, what's wrong Zell?' Bahamut knew something had to be wrong.

"Nothing." Zell told him, but of course there was something bother him. He ignored it for the moment and looked around, "Hey Squall."

Squall, in full uniform, glanced back and mentally groaned in his head. He liked Zell, considered him a friend, but he didn't feel much in the mood to deal with him right now, he was still pondering how he was going to manage Garden repairs and assign a mission at the same time. "Zell."

Zell wrapped his arm around Squall's shoulder "How you doing _Commander_. How's running the Garden going?"

"Horribly." Squall sighed, giving him a subtle look.

"Whoa." Zell removed his arm and patted Squall on the back "I'll leave you too it."

Squall sighed in relief, at lest Zell knew when to leave him alone. "I shouldn't even be here, I have too much work."

'Squall, Behind you.' Griever prompted.

Squall listened, and turned around questionlessly. He found himself looking down at a boy about a foot shorted to him and 2 years younger "Can I help you?"

"Are you Squall Lionhart?" The boy asked, looking at him with odd black eyes, running his hand through his short brown hair, "Need your help...I need SeeD help."

"What kind of help?" Squall asked curiously, 'What could someone his age need SeeD's for, I thought he was a student.'

"Dollet." The boy said "The short version is I need body guards to get me from Dollet by train to Timber."

'Is he serous?' "SeeD's aren't free you know." Squall informed him, just incase he didn't know.

The boy nodded "I'm sure, but I will pay you...I'll find away to pay. But I really need body guards, and I heard that Balamb Garden was the best."

Squall folded his arms 'Hmm...He need's body guards, but he can't pay...' "...What are the details?"

The boy smiled "My name is Matthew. And I've seem to have pissed some very dangerous people, I'm not sure how exactly, possibly something my father or brother or some other family member has done. But the point is they want me dead, so I have to pick up something's in Dollet and get to Timber where it's safe. I really need to do this, please, will you help me?"

! - ! - !

"..." Shadow walked at Cho's side, feeling like hell, unable to figure out why he was still here. If he could count every look, scowl, or anything hateful directed towards him so far...

"Shadow, what's with you?" Cho asked, holding his arms behind his head lazily. "Come on, this is great."

"..." Shadow didn't respond, he just glanced back at Nida with red eyes then stared forward.

"You know..." Cho reached over and rubbed his head, "I'm really grateful you actually came, I thought you would have left by now."

Shadow was still silent, it made this whole experience a little easier but this was still unbearably hard.

Seifer came from behind, poking a finger into Cho's had and rubbing Shadow's head hard enough to push down his ears. "Sorry brat, I need to borrow spiky again."

Cho didn't feel regretful this time, he knew Shadow didn't want to be here, and he was forcing himself to stay mostly from pride, pride wouldn't permit him from leaving just because humans. That didn't mean he was unaffected by what they thought, "Yeah, if that's ok with him."

"It's fine." Shadow walked behind Cho and over to Seifer, though he didn't show it he was very relieved to have a break. Shadow followed him through the scores of people and out to the door near the back of the room and into the main hall.

"What would I do with out alcohol." Seifer said with a breath of relief as he finished off the last of his glass.

"How can you drink that?" Shadow said, pacing around lightly in the silence of the circular hall.

"Why not, You seemed to like it." Seifer set the empty glass aside on a near by railing then leaned against it, looking down at the fountain that lay behind him. "The key to alcohol is control, drink too much and you get drunk and a hell of a hang over the next day, might even black out, like you did."

"I'm not going near that again."

"Yeah yeah..."


	3. Chapter 3: Waiting

Chapter 3: Waiting.

Ifrit crouched down in the soft grass near the very back of the training center, creeping along the ground as conspicuously as possible. This place was empty, it always was at this time of night, or morning he should say, 4 am would qualify as morning, so he had the entire place to himself...well not exactly.

At times like this, Ifrit was keenly aware of his strong points, and stealth was not one of them. Griever, standing in front of him with his back turned, wiped his bladed tail outward, Ifrit blocked with his arm, leaving a large cut across just above his wrist. With himself discovered, Ifrit pushed upward with his arms and legs off the ground, ascending above Griever and kicked him in his back between his wings.

Griever flapped his wings together forcefully, smashing Ifrit in between and knocking him out of the air. With swiftness, Griever climbed on top of him and held him down, "Give up."

"No." Ifrit drove his head forward, slamming his horns into Griever and knocking him backwards, then he grabbed Griever by the shoulders and threw him off. Griever landed hard on the ground and slid back a few feet. Ifrit rolled on to his stomach and pushed himself up, Griever dug his claws into a tree behind him and climbed on his feet.

Ifrit took a step backwards, heat rising in distorting waves from his body. A low, rumbling growl sounded from his throat as he charged at Griever, the heat surrounding him burst into flames that until he couldn't be distinguished beneath the blazing fire. Griever stood his ground, holding one arm outward as he cast a spell "Wateraga!" A sphere of blue liquid surrounded Ifrit, extinguishing the flames though the fire GF managed to break through the bubble and continue his charge at Griever.

"Protect." A blue barrier surrounded Griever as the blades in his elbows came out and he folded his arms to block. Ifrit ran into Griever, blue horns broke through the protect spell and crashed into the red blades, stopping him completely. "Tch." Griever grabbed Ifrit by the horns and lifted him off of his feet, then slammed him down face first on the ground. Griever sat down on his back while he continued to hold Griever by the horns. "Give up."

Ifrit grunted from the pain, "Never." Ifrit reached forward, digging his claws into the ground and rolling over hard enough to drop Griever off of him. He lifted himself on to his hands and knees, "Firaga!" Griever's body erupted in an explosion of flames and heat, enough to make him stumble backwards. That gave Ifrit the opening he was waiting for.

Ifrit sprang forward, reaching for an off guard Griever, but Griever caught himself and went to incept him. Griever's fist caught Ifrit's and Ifrit's caught Griever's, both of them ended up dead locked, both trying to over power the other. Usually, Griever would have won quickly in a match of strength, but today, Ifrit seemed unusually determined through visibly struggling. Ifrit smiled impishly, leaning forward over their arms and pressing his mouth against Griever's ear "I won't lose to you again." Ifrit's hands became scolding hot, hotter and hotter until flames surrounded them, burning Griever's immensely. But Griever held on and kept pushing, even through the fire Griever started to force Ifrit back. 'What?'

"Heh." Griever smiled at the failing look on Ifrit's face, pushing harder and making Ifrit slide backwards. "Give up."

Ifrit was hesitant, but as soon as Griever forced him on to his knees he knew it was over, despite his efforts to get back up Griever was stronger. "I...I give up." Ifrit sighed as Griever let go of his hands, he dropped them in defeat. Unmoving as he felt Griever lean down and press their lips together in fierce kiss. He always felt helplessly weak when he lost to Griever, just like all of those other times before, he could never seem to win, though this time he lasted a whole hour, longer then any time before. 'Next time. I won't be so weak next time.' He said to himself, though losing to Griever wasn't all bad, he could say that much.

Griever grabbed on to the back of Ifrit's head and pulled him against his stomach. Ifrit gave a small grunt of acknowledgment, wrapping his strong arms around Griever's waist trailing down his stomach with small trail of warm kisses. Griever's hands ran down Ifrit's neck and coming to rest on his shoulders, his claws dug into to Ifrit's skin hard enough to draw blood on a normal person. Griever was always so squeamish during gentle treatments.

"...Uhaa..." Griever closed his eyes and fell back, landing in a sitting potion with Ifrit still holding his waist though now on his stomach. He crossed his legs and held on to the horns that extended down Ifrit's back, though Griever was able to contain himself for the most part he still couldn't keep his tail from whipping around excitedly behind him. And the fact that Ifrit was strong and he'd come so close to beating him made this all the more exhilarating.

The warm tongue made it's way teasingly down Griever's stomach and stopping at the navel. Ifrit had gained experience with what felt good and what spots were the most sensitive on the familiar body. He'd had 200 years to learn, that's when their constant continuation of fighting began. Ifrit ran his tongue around the navel, adding heat as his tongue slid from the outer ring to the inside and gaining that all too familiar deep groan and tightening hold around his horns from Griever.

Ifrit closed his eyes, drawing his tongue back and burying his face into Griever's lap where an erection made itself known from beneath the sheath. He wasn't too adverse to doing this to Griever, His first few losses he had been, now he'd grown accustomed, even liked it. Then he realized how much of a libido Griever had, they'd gone through this a lot, sometimes after a day, sometimes a week in-between, a few times it'd even been exactly 20 years until he saw the Lion GF again.

Griever pulled Ifrit in by his horns, prompting him to stop waiting. Ifrit complied, wrapping his mouth around the cock and sucking diligently, closing his eyes again as his hands slid down Griever's back with soft heat. His fingers pressed against Griever's entrances, but strong hands around his wrist made Ifrit open his eyes and prevented him from going any farther. He still had to beat Griever to even attempt that, that much was clear. Griever held his head down and let out a growl of contentment, and Ifrit could have swore he saw a faint smile across his lips. "Ifrit..."

Ifrit ran his tongue along the bottom of the cock, applying more and more heat to the already warm length. Ifrit suddenly pulled back right after, instead he blew a warm, humid breath over the head of the cock, it sent a shudder through Griever's body. He could feel Griever's tail moving around more anxiously with each administration Ifrit gave him. The Lion GF clinched Ifrit's horns in a tight grip and his eyes and whole expression clinched. One last breath from Ifrit was enough to force a loud roar from Griever, and send cum upward into Ifrit's mouth. Griever fell forward, his chest and head laying on Ifrit's back with heavy pants and a few soft growls that sent vibrations along Ifrit's muscles. Still clinched tightly as the rest of his seed emptied.

Both of them lay silently, Ifrit on his hands and knees with his head burred in Griever's lap, and Griever laying over the expanses of Ifrit's back. "Next time..." Ifrit said "I won't be so weak."

Griever smirked, He remembered those words well, even after all this time and seeing how strong Ifrit has gotten, he still could only see Ifrit as that small GF that chased after him especially when he said that. That wanted to be like him, that wanted him to stay, that was in love with him. "Hn."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Aaahhhh." Seifer moaned painfully, lifting his hand to his forehead as he slowly opened his eyes "Aww Damnit. My head is killing me...what the hell happened?" Seifer found himself staring up at a ceiling that wasn't his own, finding a wall in his vision that shouldn't have been there. 'Huh?' Seifer lifted his head off of the pillow and looked around. He himself was laying in a bed wearing only his pants, his shirt was laying across a chair that sat at a desk that he knew he didn't have.

Shadow was laying across his waist with his head resting on his stomach, he looked so peaceful that it was kinda cute. And for some reason Cho was laying on the ground with his shirt open. This wasn't his room, it was Cho's. "What the hell am I doing here?"

Cho groaned and stirred in his sleep, "Owww, keep it down..."

"Eh? What's with you?" Seifer looked around until he found the clock on the wall, no wonder, it was 4:30 in the morning. It was pretty dark, the only light was that of the blinking green of Cho's alarm clock. "Oh...nevermind." Seifer laid back again, still trying to figure out why he was here in the first place. He found himself looking into glowing red eyes of an apparently awaken Shadow, "I never noticed you were a nightlight too spiky."

Shadow opened his mouth in a small yawn, "I'm not a dog, stop calling me that."

"Yeah, Yeah." Seifer rubbed Shadow's head, his hand was large enough to push his ears down. He made up for it by gently scratching behind the furry appendages and making the wolf's ears perk. "Now how did I get here?"

"You drank to much and thought this was your room."

Seifer laughed, getting another angry grow from a sleeping Cho. "I don't think I can go back to sleep with this headache. At least not right now." Seifer said with a shrug, "You sleepy?"

"Not really."

"Then lets get out of here, before Cho get's mad." Seifer sat up completely, Shadow was forced to get up though he didn't too much mind it. Shadow, though still groggy, moved agilely over Cho's body with out disturbing him, Seifer however stepped on the boy more then once.

"Aww, hey." Cho yelled out, before rolling over and going back to sleep. He seemed comfortable down there, and probably was since he was long used to sleeping on the ground from living in a forest most or all of his life.

Seifer gave a bare apology as he put on his shirt and opened the door to the bed room, Shadow following at his heels. They found Nida laying across his couch sloppily, it was obvious that he must have been very tired when he went to sleep since he was in such a disorganized manner. Nida turned his head and opened one eye "Finally woke up huh?" He called out sleepily "Where are you two going this early?"

"I'm taking spiky for a walk." Seifer said with a smirk, getting a growl in response from Shadow. Seifer lifted his hands in surrendering manner, as he opened the door to the harshly bright lights of the hallway. It was enough to make his pounding head worse. 'Damn, do they have to make these lights so bright, it's 4 in the morning!' That was the hang over talking, "Come, I need to change clothes."

! - ! - !

Zell lifted his feet over the side of his bed, feeling a small chill from being in nothing but his boxers as he reached around blindly in the darkness for the light on his wall. After a few seconds he just gave up and opened his eyes, 'Huh? Where did Bahamut go?' Zell looked back though he was barely able to see anything, he could easily tell that the dragon was gone.

Zell laid back down in is bed, his hands behind his head and his eyes falling closed. 'He couldn't have gone and done what I think he did, he's in no condition.' Bahamut was still injured from his fight against the shadows that had possessed the garden, and against Carbuncle who'd also been controlled at the time, and performing a complete Junction couldn't be easy on someone who'd just recently learned how to be a GF.

All of that was put aside when he heard Bahamut come through the door, Bahamut was never one to sneak around, he never did it well. A small smile appeared on Zell's face as he felt the GF climbing into the bed next to him and wrapping his arms around the boy. "Are you alright Bahamut?" Zell looked over at Bahamut, still bandaged over his torso, his forearms and shins, His tail was still healing, and Zell knew how sad Bahamut was about his tail. "How's the tail?"

Bahamut closed his eyes "I'm fine. And my tail is..." Which meant still not healed. Bahamut opened his eyes again and looked down, Zell was laying across him with a firm hold on his tail and had gotten in the position with out him noticing. "What are you...ahaaa..." Zell was rubbing his tail around the base area, working his fingers into the muscles in a massaging manner.

"Feel good?" Zell asked, laying his head on Bahamut's chest.

"Very." Bahamut smiled, resting his hand on Zell's head. "You don't have to do this for me."

"I don't mind, besides, you've been kind of out lately, and I really like your tail, it's cool." An impish smirk came on to Zell's face, "Besides, I miss those things you do with it."

! - ! - !

Seifer returned to Cho's room, fully clothed in his usual attire and Shadow walking behind him. All of the lights were on, and he smelled the scent of food in the air. "What the hell?" Seifer looked around, finding Nida in the kitchen cooking and Cho sitting at the counter in front of him. Both of them already dressed, noticeably much more casually then last night "You guys are aware that it's still 4 in the morning?" He said, watching Shadow walk over to the sofa and lay down as usual.

Nida looked up, then back at the pan below him. "Uh-huh."

Cho glanced back "Your up."

Seifer just shrugged and sat down next to them, "Any reason why we're all up this early."

Nida laughed "You woke us up. You move like your still drunk."

Seifer was tempted to throw something at him. "Whatever."

"Hey, I just remembered something." Cho said abruptly. "I heard something really weird in class a few days ago."

"This sounds bad already." Nida walked away from the stove and opened the refrigerator. "And what was this weird thing you heard?"

"I heard there was a monster lose in the Garden. Some people said they see it around this time of the morning." Cho told them, a little more excited then he should have been.

"Really?" Nida seemed a little more interested. "And what does it look like?"

Cho shrugged "I don't know, nobody really got a good look. Think it was another one of those things from before, those things that look like Shadow?"

"It's possible." Nida said with cautious agreement, "Anything's possible, they could just be seeing things, or making it up just to mess with you. You know people aren't too sold on Shadow staying, they could be using it as an excuse."

"An excuse?" Cho asked inquiringly "An excuse for what?"

Nida leaned over the counter to look at him face to face. "Think about it Cho, people don't like him. They could use this as an excuse to--"

"Why do you talk about me as if I'm not in the room?" Shadow called out, staring piercingly at the wall.

Seifer glanced back "Better get use it." He said plainly "It's gonna happen a lot."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Cho pushed himself out of his chair, Nida immediately recognized that plotting look in his eyes. "Why don't we go and look for it?"

Seifer snorted "Does this sound useless and stupid to anyone but me?"

"Yeah let's do it, there's no way it could hurt."

"Expect for if it's real, and it kills you. You go ahead and do it if you want." Seifer stood up, yawning as he stretched his arms upward toward the ceiling. "I'm going back to sleep. Shadow, look out I'm crashing." Seifer turned around and fell backwards on to the couch, forcing Shadow to move before he was smashed under Seifer's weight. He just reconvened on Seifer's chest, uncaring of Seifer wanted him there or not, which he didn't really care about. It seemed the walk was enough to allow Seifer to get back to sleep. "Just save me some food will ya brat?"

"Oh come on, just a quick look." Cho said, But he quickly saw Seifer obviously wasn't going to move again and Shadow didn't look like he wanted to be bothered with it. So Cho turned to the only person left "Nida? It's not like we're going to do anything."

Nida shook his head. "I don't know Cho, you have a mission today, you should be getting back to bed and resting up..." He looked down and saw the pleading look in Cho's eyes, he knew the boy was faking it, but he just couldn't resist "Alright, but hurry up."

! - ! - !

It was amazing how a place looked completely different at different times, Cho was so used to seeing it filled with people that it was almost unreal, like this wasn't same Garden hall. The whole place was empty, the only sounds were from the barely noticeable fountains that surrounded this place.

"Hmm...This place..." Cho rested his hands behind his head and smiled "Is kinda nice when it's quite."

"I guess so, You'll never see this place more peaceful." Nida placed his hands in his pockets and followed behind Cho, glancing around lazily. He wasn't expecting to see anything, he didn't even want to be up right now, but he did enjoy the peace in a place that usually wasn't peaceful. It was a refreshing change, "So what are we looking for?"

"I don't know, but I'll know it when I see it." Cho was most defiantly taking this seriously, he was interested in things like this. "Where would something like that hide? In the training center? Maybe in the cafeteria where there's food?" Cho thought about that "Nah, it's locked, and I think I'd notice that."

"I don't think you've considered the idea that it could be fake." Nida commented.

"That's what we're going to find out." Cho walked past the infirmary, glancing down the hall inside towards the locked door. "Think somethings in there."

"If it was, then it would have been found when they were closing it for the night."

Cho shrugged "Alright." Nida was probably right, there were other places that something could easily hide. "So how are you feeling Nida? You were hurt pretty bad before." Cho knew Nida had suffered plenty of injuries when the Ragnork crashed last week. "How's your leg."

"It's alright." Nida said conservatively, truthfully it still hurt him a bit, especially when pressure was applied. It was going to be a week spot for a while. "If I can survive a heart attack then I can get over something like that."

Cho froze "What?" That's when Nida realized his mistake "You had a heart attack! And you didn't tell me?"

"It wasn't _too_ severe." Nida lifted his hands defensively. "And I'm fine now, it was 4 years ago." He remembered it distinctly not because he ended up in the infirmary for a week but it was right before Squall's team went into time compression. And some how Cho went with them and made his way back safely.

"How did it happen?" Cho turned around grabbed Nida by the waist, pressing his head against his chest "Are you ok?"

"It was a long time ago Cho." Nida pushed him off and turned him around by his shoulders "I'm going to be fine, stop worrying."

Cho continued looking around, realizing they had reached the elevator but deciding to stay on this floor for the time being. And he was pretty sure the elevator was locked. "Nida, your 17, how does some one have a heart attack at your age?"

"I don't know." Nida shrugged indifferently.

Cho headed down the pathway that would have exited the Garden if they were rooted back in Balamb, Now there was a large metal shutter to block the doors off. "Seriously, it's gotta be like stress or something, I've seen the stuff you eat and that's not it."

"Cho stop worrying, I'm fine." Nida came to the turnstiles just ahead of the shutter, they were locked though people usually didn't come down here anyway since they have any reason to. No one ever barely gave this place a second look so even in the middle of the day this place was almost private. Nida jumped over the rows of turnstiles and sat down on one.

"You do a lot of stuff, I mean your a pilot, practically an instructor, and your in everything possible." Cho sat down and leaned against the same turnstile Nida was perched on, looking at the wall since he was too tired to strain his head unnecessarily. "Why'd you do so much stuff anyway?"

"I don't know, I was bored, lonely I guess." Nida said, though he wasn't nearly as involved in extra curricular things anymore "I was a little like you when I came here, I was, bored, alone and I didn't want to be anymore. So made my way here on a scholarship."

"Alone? You didn't have any family?"

"Nope, I don't even remember what I did for most of the earlier years of my life." Nida looked up in thought, trying to think "I barely know how I survived, I do remember coming to Balamb once and some how I was lucky enough to find Cid and I guess I made a good impression and it went from there. I also remember a strong feeling of loneliness, and constant boredom long before and even after I finally did get here."

"Wow, I remember a lot." Cho said, he was even able to recount one thing that happened to him when he was one.

"Well, I strived to get high marks, partly to maintain scholarship but mostly because it involved a lot of studying. If I was studying then I wasn't bored and I could forget about being alone. That worked for a while, but the more I realized how lonely I was the more I studied, and finally it didn't work at all. So I started joining a few clubs..." Nida paused, thinking again "It was similar to how some one buries themselves in work to avoid facing they're real life. That's what I did for a while."

Cho glanced up at him "I'm impressed, most people just deny their problems, you point them out."

"Yeah well I try to find and learn from my mistakes, denying things just wastes time. That's why I studied psychology and people, that's another thing I did when I was bored, I tried to figure out why people did the things they did. Over doing things just seemed to be a habit after awhile, I think I was happy when that happened, or at least contempt with my self. Till I met you that is."

"Hey Nida."

"Huh?" Nida looked down at him, there eyes meeting.

"Ever wonder if it's going to happen again? You know... If your going to be alone again? And things are going to be like they were before?"

Nida shook his head "Not really, why?"

"No reason...--Hey! Look!" Cho climbed to his feet excitedly, pointing towards the metal shutter where a large, passing shadow had been cast. "That's it! Let's go!" Cho crouched under the turnstile and ran towards what appeared to be some type of shadowy figure that they'd just missed.

"Hold on, wait!" Nida climbed off the rotary device and ran after Cho who'd already turned the corner.

Cho stopped and looked around, "It's gone, I know I saw something going this way...you saw that too right?"

Nida looked around "I saw a shadow." He told Cho uncertainty. "It could have been anything, like that." Nida pointed to a sheet of paper that had just fallen past one of the lights, particularly one that had been pointed in the area where they were sitting. "See, it was nothing. Who'd you hear this from anyway?"

Cho wasn't quite so sure, the look on his face showed that he wasn't going to give this up so easily. "Yeah, I guess so. I heard it from a few people, and Zell." he said defeatedly, "Wait, how did that paper get in the air?"

Nida rolled his eyes "Cho."

"No really, we're the only people up, and nobody's on the second floor, how would a piece of paper get into the air?" Cho asked, regaining faith in his suspicions.

"Coincidence possibly, your reading too much into this."

Cho looked up at Nida for a moment, then took one more look around "...Ok, We can go back to sleep now, I guess."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Uhhaaaa..." Cho moaned sleepily, pulling the covers over his head.

"Quit being lazy." Seifer gave Cho a quick punch in the chest, hard enough to make the boy open his eyes and cringe "Get up already."

Cho blinked, before his eyes narrowed and he threw his pillow at Seifer "What was that for!"

Seifer grabbed the pillow and threw it back at him "Come on, hurry up or we're going to be late." He snorted, leaving now that Cho was finally awake.

Cho glanced over at Nida's alarm clock, it was 8 o'clock, Seifer was right it was time to go. 'Damn...It's like I just fell asleep five minutes ago.' Cho shook his head and climbed out of bed, he couldn't afford to sleep in today, he had his first mission! And he had to be in Squall's office in 15 minutes.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Squall leaned against his desk with his arms folded, looking over the group curiously. It was a very odd team, Seifer, his very presence in the Garden spoke for itself. Nida, who was responsible enough, and Cho, who should have still been a junior classmen. This was an easy choice "Nida, your team leader."

Not that it was a surprise to anyone. "This will be a protection mission, you will have to escort a client named Matthew...Doe--"

"Doe?" Seifer asked.

"He was rather paranoid about giving me too much information on himself. Doesn't matter through. You'll be his bodyguards while your transporting him from Dollet to Timber by train." Squall said.

"Wouldn't it be easier and safer to use the Ragnork?" Nida asked.

"Yes it would." Squall started, feeling annoyance spawning at the thought. "But the ship is _missing _for the moment (He felt one of his friends influences at work), so you'll have to stick with the original plan." Squall handed Nida a sheet of paper "This is a statement by Matthew, it'll tell you everything else you need to know."

Nida took the paper and looked over it carefully.

"I'm not sure of the nature of the threat, it's most likely minor but possibly severe but what ever it is make sure you protect your client to the best of your abilities...and Cho, Nida...you two don't have any weapons." Squall knew the story of how Cho became a SeeD and knew it didn't involve him pick one, he wasn't sure why Nida didn't "You'll have to pick one now."

Cho and Nida looked at each other, Squall was right, Cho never really trained with one and Nida never took a position where he had to use one since he wasn't the fighting type. And the three of them only had one GF between them, well Squall should say two since Seifer was strong enough not to need one. It was too late to get any defiant training for whatever weapon they choice so it would be best to pick something simple.

"I wanna use..." Cho lifted his hand to his chin and thought, simple? What he had in mind was very simple "A rod, I always wanted to try one of those."

Squall looked at him, he was sure Cho didn't know how to handle one of those effectively, but on the other hand Cho could do a lot of things. "Fine."

"Something simple huh?" Nida tried to think of something he could use easily, what could be more simpler then "A gun, something with out recoil."

"Ok then. And since we're at FH then your going to have to take a car across the railroad tracks and make it to Dollet." Squall said, "You can work out anything else among yourselves."

Cho and Nida nodded and turned to leave, Seifer was already halfway to the door by that time. Squall was use to Seifer's impatient manner since he had to deal with it most of his life, he

wasn't at phased by it anymore. Though it could be a problem during a mission, even through Seifer knew he wasn't a SeeD yet and this would just be a field test for him, Seifer still may try and do something reckless and stupid. Another reason Squall put him in this team, the three of them seemed to be friends, so there was a good chance Seifer would actually listen to Nida.

'Man I hope they don't end up doing something stupid, can Nida really handle those two?' Squall thought, Nida may have been the smartest and most able to command, but he was also the weakest. Cho had Shadow on his side making him a reconcilable force, but Cho was Cho. And Seifer was the strongest, but Seifer's previous actions spoke for themselves. 'I hope so, for his sake.'

With that in order, Squall had his own work to attended to.


	4. Chapter 4: First Mission

Chapter 4: First mission

It was a bumpy ride on the rail road tracks, a constant and increasingly rapid sounds of something knocking against wood sounded from bellow as the car's wheels rolled over the planks between the elevated steel lines of the railroad tracks. Seifer drove, being the better driver and one of the only out of the group who could, while Nida sat in the front seat next to him, clinching the arm rest uneasily. Cho was in the back seat, Shadow next to him.

The SUV road quickly along the railroad bridge just outside of Fishermen's Horizon, from here there was a good view of the city, though no one had time to notice it because of how fast Seifer was driving. "Seifer...why don't you slow down." Nida said nervously.

"Why would I?" Seifer said, looking strait ahead with one hand on the wheel and another shifting gears.

"I don't know...maybe because if you hit these rails too hard at this speed, we'll flip over into the ocean."

"Aww calm down, I know what I'm doing." Seifer waved him off discardingly, watching as they came up on the road block at the east end of the bridge, Seifer shifted gears "Alright hold on."

"Hey wait, don't tell me your going to do what I think you are?" Nida quickly buckled up, staring at the two concrete barriers sitting before them, one on each track.

"It's quicker." Seifer turned abruptly, striking the rails and making the car jump to the next track where two long steel rods served to hold this barrier up. "Hold on."

"No way Seifer! This is stupid!" Nida yelled, watching helplessly as Seifer drove the car on two the steel rods, "Are you crazy! Stop!"

"Relax, I've done this tons of times." Seifer said, accelerating as the car elevated higher and higher on the steel rods. "Besides, too late to stop now." He was right.

The car launched off the steel rods, sailing through the air while Nida clinched his eyes shut and waited for what seemed like an eternity until he felt that impact of them finally hitting the ground and him nearly flying out of his seat. Nida immediately let out a breath that had been caught in his throat, relaxing enough to slump in his chair. "Your insane."

Cho laughed from the back seat, causing Seifer to smirk. "I know."

! - ! - !

Zell awakened again to the sound of faint voices, two familiar voices. "Hhmmmm..." He yawned as he opened his eyes, blinking a few time to sharpen his blurry vision. Bahamut was gone now, he'd managed to slip out of bed earlier fairly easy since Zell wasn't exactly a light sleeper. He glanced out the open window, since the sunlight had woken him up anyway, and instead of the expansive ocean that was usually there he could see a city, FH. 'Garden repairs...'

With that thought he decided to get up, it was early enough. 'Bahamut.' he climbed out of bed and gathered a few clothes before he headed out of his room to the shower. Bahamut was sitting on the couch with Carbuncle on his lap, the two voices he'd heard. "That really happened?" Carbuncle asked curiously.

Bahamut nodded "Yes it did."

Zell smirked as he headed into the bathroom, knowing Bahamut had felt horrible about what happened to Carbuncle, and feeling partly responsible since he probably did some damage to Carbuncle mentally when he fought the Shadow during the junction and used MegaFlare. And Carbuncle seemed to be depressed and with out purpose lately, so he made it his personal duty to recount everything that had happened to him, every single detail. Though Zell suspected he wouldn't stop there.

It seemed to help Carbuncle, he was excited to hear Bahamut's stories. He didn't seem so depressed anymore, and Zell was all for it.

! - ! - !  
! - ! - !

"Cho, wake up." Shadow nudged the boy lightly with his nose.

Cho noticed that they were no longer moving "...Man that was a long trip." He groaned as he sat up, he found there vehicle surrounded by brick roads and buildings with the sound of trains passing in the distance. "Ready Shadow?"

"Of course." Shadow nodded, going through the process of junctioning himself to Cho. It was similar to the process of possessing, so he was effectively able to do it though he was still new to it.

Cho, Seifer and Nida stepped out of the car, realizing how they just barely made it here since they ran out of gas anyway. "So where is this guy anyway?" Cho asked.

Nida took lead as they entered the train station just ahead of them, climbing the stairwell to the front door. "He should be here." Nida said, looking around the busy front hall. People where everywhere as expected, and the volume grew even larger as two trains arrived. It was hard to see one person from another, "Anyone see him?"

"Over here." Seifer waved his team mates in the direction he spotted someone who fit the description, it was most likely the person since there wasn't anyone else his age here.

Black eyes looked up to meet them as they approached, a smile appeared on his face and he jumped up from the seat where he'd been sitting to meet them "You guys must be Balamb SeeDs." he was just as Squall described him, someone just barely taller then Cho, short brown hair and black eyes.

"Your Mathew?" Nida asked.

"Yes sir."

Nida rubbed his head "No sir, just call me Nida." Nida pointed to Cho "This is Maru, we call him Cho. And he's Seifer."

Mathew nodded "It's nice to met you all, I wasn't sure that Mr. Lionhart was going to do it."

'Mr. Lionhart? This kid's going to be annoying.' Seifer thought to himself.

Cho looked over the boy who seemed his age, he couldn't understand it 'He's nice enough, why would someone like him need bodyguards? Who could be after him?'

Nida figure it was time they found out what they were dealing with. "So why did you need us? What exactly do you need us to protect you from?"

Matthew shook his head "I'll tell you on the train, it's about to leave."

Nida glanced at the clock and the departure board hanging in the center of the room, he was right, the train was leaving in 2 minutes. He pulled out 4 tickets from his inventory, "Alright, let's go then."

Matthew picked up a box sitting on the ground next to the seat he was sitting in "Lead the way." He stood behind Nida, Cho walking at his side and Seifer following from behind as they made their way through the crowds of people towards the loading bay for the trains. Matthew looked as if he'd never been so happy which almost inquired Cho to ask and was about to until he saw his face suddenly drop. "Oh no..."

"What is it?" Cho asked.

Mathew pointed to his left where 5 or so men in Galbadian army uniforms (3 blue and 2 red) were looking around, the on in the back looked directly at him and pointed, alerting the others and sending them hastily toward them. "Oh man, Run!" Mathew shouted.

Nida looked back, "What? Why?"

"Galbadian soldiers at 10 o'clock." Seifer said, drawing his Gunblade.

Nida waved them forward, "We can't fight here, there are too many people. We don't have time anyway, let's just go!" Nida darted off in a full sprint with Cho, Mathew and Seifer behind him, he pushed his way through the people, glancing back at the 5 men coming after them. "Come on!"

Cho stayed by Mathew's side, fast enough to keep up with Nida easily but Mathew wasn't. Cho took the box from the boy and pushed him forward "Go!" He got a nod from Mathew he seemed to be much faster with out the package.

'Cho, behind you.' Shadow called out.

Cho looked back, finding that a Galbadian solider was reaching out to him, but Seifer grabbed him by his neck and pulled him away. "Watch your ass damnit!"

"I could have taken him." Cho waived him off, crouching lightly to avoid a person and pushing his way through more until Nida and Mathew could be seen again. Nida force his way outside into the open area where the train was waiting to depart with little to no time left. Nida abruptly jumped into the last car, Mathew coming in behind, then Cho and Seifer last.

A loud horn sounded and the doors slid closed, forcing the 5 solders to come to a sharp halt. One of the commanders lifted the Glatting guns on his arm toward the window, but the other one forced him to lower them, allowing him to do nothing but watch as the train departed.

Seifer abruptly sat down against the wall in the empty car "Ok kid, start coughing up with some answers." He said demandingly "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know." Mathew shrugged "They've been coming after me since last year, Galbadia and some other people."

"Are you saying people have been coming after you, and you have no idea why?" Nida asked, this was suspicious.

Cho emerged from the next car, "Are you guys going to stay back here? We got a cabin to ourselves. Oh Mathew, I left your box is in there."

Mathew nodded and followed Cho out the door, Nida and Seifer glanced at each other.

"There has to be a reason for this." Seifer said "I don't like this, it's too suspicious."

"I'm not sure of this either. But we just have to get him to Timber and we can be done with this." Nida told him.

! - ! - !

Squall opened the emergency door on the second floor, returning from the FH, who weren't particularly fond of the Garden lately. He could still see classes being held, undisrupted by their stop, and among other things something big and red dropping down in front of the open door way. Squall sighed and turned around, seeing Seiphie and Irvine waving to him from the cockpit of the Ragnaork. "What the hell are you two doing!"

He'd drawn some interesting looks from the students in the classroom next to him.

Irvine shrugged and laughed.

! - ! - !

Seifer waited patently in the empty room, glancing over at Mathew occasionally who was clinching the box tightly. The boy just starred down at the ground, kicking circles. Nida seemed a little more relaxed about the situation, laying across the seat with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Cho was some place in a car farther ahead doing who knew what, that thought worried Nida a little. "I better go find Cho."

Seifer shrugged and sat back...but quickly sat up again "Wait a minute, do you feel that?"

Matthew looked up "Hey, the train's slowing down!" Matthew climbed up on to his knees on the couch and looked out of the window "We're not even half way yet, where in the middle of nowhere!"

Nida stood up "What...Stay here, I'll go check it out." He called back, opening the door and steeping to the small hallway. Cho bolted in, nearly running into him.

"Nida, something really weird is going on!" He yelled frantically, "The whole train is empty!"

Nida looked around, glancing out of the window at the slowing landscape "What, what are you talking about?"

"One minute everyone was here, and the next everybody was gone, something creepy is going on around here." Cho could see Nida wasn't taken on the idea that everyone on a whole train disappeared before his eyes. "Alright come on, let me show you." Cho turned and ran out the door over the bridge to the other car.

Nida took another look outside, not seeing any sign of anything or anyone else but them. 'Ok, I'll bite.' Nida followed behind Cho, but before he could step foot out side of the cable car the door blew off it's hinges in a rush of flames. It slammed into Nida , knocking him off his feet and surrounding him in fire. "Urhgaa!"

Seifer rushed out of the door, drawing back at the flare of flames that were now starting to die down. "Nida, what happened?"

Nida took Seifer's out stretched hand and climbed to his feet "I don't know...Cho!" Nida ran out of the open doorway toward the other car that was now completely charred over the back side, the moment he stepped on to the small, metal bridge connecting the two his foot went through and it broke off completely. That'd been the only thing remaining to link the last cable car because they started to drift apart. "No!"

"Ok, what now?" Seifer asked. The sound of glass shattering could be heard. "Shit!"

"You go check on Mathew, I'm going to see what that was." Nida took a step back then dived out of open doorway, half of his body landed inside while the other half dragged outward. But he seemed to be alright because he was pulling himself in.

Seifer waited no time heading back into the room with gunblade ready, Matthew ran past him with a man following after him. In a green pilot's uniform with a headset over his ears and mouth and sunglasses over his eyes, a cord was hanging in the broken window, apparently how he'd gotten in. "Remember when I said some other guys beside Galbadia was after me? They're here!"

Seifer allowed Mathew to pass but held his gunblade out to the man "Stop right there."

"Move!" The man pulled a baton from behind him, one that was sparking with electricity. "Now!" The man drew his arm back by his shoulder and slammed it across Seifer's face, Seifer stumbled back and countered a slash across the man's chest.

Seifer lifted his empty hand "Firaga!" flames travailed along the ground and erupted from under the man's feet, knocking him backwards out of the window. He grabbed on to the cord which abruptly pulled him up. Seifer ran over to the window and stuck his head out, "Kid, you must have done something bad for them to come after you like this."

"I didn't do anything!" Mathew called back, clinching the box in his arms. "What do we do now?" The separate car had completely stopped, though the rest of the train wasn't far ahead.

"Come on!" Seifer grabbed the boy by the hand and jumped out of the empty car through the open door, just before it erupted in a powerful explosion. Seifer and Mathew were knocked off their feet from the force, Seifer landing on the tracks while Mathew rolled down a grassy hill to the side of them and out of sight. 'Damnit!'

From out of nowhere, a large helicopter dropped down from the sky, the same man he'd fought before still hanging down from a single cord. Seifer looked up, hearing the click of the machine trying to fire something that wasn't there, it ran out of ammunition 'Holy crap that was close.' Instead the man on the cord dropped down in front of Seifer while the Helicopter when after the train. "You again."

Seifer forced himself up on to his feet, still feeling the blow he'd just taken. "What are you after the kid for?" He asked, drawing his gunblade back with both hands and charging at the man.

"That kid has to die you idiot!" The man blocked Seifer with the electrified baton "Figures, you would be the one to help _them_ again."

Seifer pulled his sword back and attacked again, this time slashing the man across his stomach "What the hell are you talking about?"

The man lifted the baton up and thrust his other arm forward "Thunder!" Lighting flashed and drove down from the sky, striking the baton. The weapon was literally overflowing electricity, he swung it towards the boy, spinning off a static ball of electricity that launched into Seifer, knocking him backwards. "Why am I telling you, of course your working with Galbadia."

Seifer grunted "I'm not working with them you dumbass! Water!" A large bubble of water surrounded the man and the electrified weapon, which in turn electrocuted him. He fell to the ground...and stopped moving. Seifer was stronger then he himself had anticipated. "Great, he's dead already, and I still don't know what's going on."

! - ! - !

Nida grabbed on to a seat in the back and pulled himself inside completely, "Cho!" Nida coughed and stumbled to his feet. Looking around the chard insides of the car he spotted Cho laying on the ground just a few feet ahead, Nida wasted no time running to him. "Cho!"

'Cho, are you alright?' Shadow inquired.

Cho groaned and opened his eyes "Yeah, I think I'm ok." Cho sat up and looked at Nida "What was that?"

"I don't know." Nida grabbed him by his shoulders and lifted him on to his feet. "But Seifer's still back there and I think a heard another explosion." Which meant Matthew was also in danger.

"Well let's go then!" Cho ran past Nida toward the back door, but was snatched back. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Your being to hasty, you have to pay attention!" Nida pointed toward the door where an increasingly louder sound of rotators was radiating. The source became known as a cord drifted down and a man in a green uniform came sliding down into the train. Then the sound of a helicopter passed over them.

"SeeDs?" The man looked over the two questioningly "Why in the hell would SeeDs be working for that damn kid?"

"Why are you after him?" Nida asked.

"Don't you get it, that kid has to die or else Galbadia is going to keep coming after him until they get him."

Nida reached into the waistband of his pants and drew two handguns "We can't let you hurt him."

Cho drew a long, steel rod from his inventory, it was about his height "Nida." He whispered, "Do you know how to use those?"

"Not really." Nida replied, "Looks like I'm going to start learning." Nida stood ready as the man drew a sword from his back, he could see the air around it wavering and distort as if heat was rising "Watch out, his weapon has a fire element." Nida lifted the guns and opened fire on the man with a shot from each, the man crossed the blade across his chest and blocked, the charged at Nida, slashing him transversely on his stomach.

Cho pulled the rod back at his side and thrust it into the man's stomach hard enough to make him stumble backwards. 'This isn't too hard.' He thought himself.

'Don't drop your guard.' Shadow told him.

The man lifted the sword over his head and jumped high enough for his head to come dangerously close to the ceiling, then bringing it down on Cho with a rush of flames being thrown outward by the blade. Cho fell backwards, by the time he hit the ground the flames covering his front side had already cleared away though leaving it's share of damage. 'Ok, that hurt...'

'This guy is fast.' Nida opened fire again with the guns, now that the man was in close range he could actually hit him, and with some luck he did, striking him in the arm and shoulder.

'Ok, here goes nothing.' Cho took a deep breath and clinched his fist tightly around the rod, trying to Draw for the first time. It seemed to work, purple lights shot out of their enemy carrying ice magic with it 'Hey it worked!' "Ice!" Cho shouted, creating cold winds that formed an icicle above the man, then it crashed down on his head and shattered.

"You must be Galbadian SeeDs." The man said with distaste, swinging the sword with seemingly no target, but spewing a thin wave of flames outward on to Cho and Nida.

Cho fell backwards while Nida took the blow of the flaming winds and stayed standing "No, Balamb." Nida fired another pair of shots with the gun, unable to do much else since he didn't have a junction. "What does Galbadia have to do with this?"

"You Balamb SeeDs are the ones that got rid of the sorceress before, why would you do something like help this kid now?" The man asked.

Now Nida was confused? "What does one have to do with another?"

"Humph, traitors." The man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a grenade "If Balamb Garden is working with Galbadia..." the man pulled the clip on the grenade and tossed it in the center of the car, then ran backwards and dived out of the train, managing to grab on to the cord hanging out of the door way.

"Oh man! Run!" Cho and Nida ran towards the door on the opposite side, "It's locked!" Cho pounded against the door, trying to force his way inside.

"Look out." Nida pressed both guns against the lock and fired two bullets in too it, the door immediately slid open, allowing them passage into the next car just as the previous one exploded. The shockwave and out reaching flames knocked Cho's lighter body off of his feet, but Nida caught him and set him back down "Come on, we have to keep going."

"Go where?" Cho asked, following behind Nida.

Nida had been keenly aware that the train had speeding up again, to the point where it was almost out of control. "To stop this train!"

The sound of the previous helicopter could be heard again above them, followed by the windows shattering. The previous man from before was now standing behind him, along with another one who'd entered by the same method. "We don't have time for this! Come on Cho." Nida grabbed Cho by the arm and pushed past him through the next door and into the next car. "We have to stop this train now." He was right, something was really off, so much so that the whole train was shaking violently.

The two men chased after them, though it was becoming increasingly harder to keep their footing since the locomotive felt like it was rocking from side to side, but being quicker, Nida and Cho made it to the head of the train where the operator should have resided. Neither found it surprising when no one was there. "Nida? You know how to stop this thing?" Cho asked, grabbing on to the wall to keep from falling.

"Yes, but we don't have that much time." Nida looked back at the two men that had stopped just outside the door, being slowed down by the shaking.

'Cho.' Shadow said promptingly. 'You can't handle this.'

"Right!" Cho smirked as he attempted his first summon. He'd learned briefly in class, but he'd gained much more knowledge of Junctioning and summoning from Carbuncle to make him confident in the whole process. It went just as it was supposed too, he and Nida faded away, dropping in to the sub-dimension.

At first nothing happened, or it seemed that way. But the shadows surrounding them started to elongate and stretched into the center of the room, rising upward and taking shape until Shadow's body was formed. The wolf growled and rose on to his heals, knowing he had little time since Cho could barely junction let alone hold a summon. Spikes rose from his body and drove forward through the doorway and into the two men. More and more stretched outward, stabbing them about 10 times each before he faded away again.

Nida and Cho returned to reality, alone in the train with the two men dead before them. As soon as his feet became solid again, Cho tumbled to the ground from the unstable shaking. "Nida, What's wrong with this thing!"

Nida stumbled over to the control panel, pressing a few buttons "Manual override...come on, switch to manual override!" He had to restrain himself from pounding on the console, but he kept working, looking back every so often to make sure he was alright. "Got it, Cho, pull that lever over there."

Cho glanced at the large switch right next to him, with out hesitating he reached up and pulled it down the switch, causing a loud screech to sound under them. The sudden engaging of the breaks seemed to make the train more unstable, the sudden attempt at stopping only made it worse and worse until finally it started to tip over on it's left side too much to recover from. "N-Nida! What's going on!"

"Cho!" Nida reached up and wrapped his arms around the boy as the train's left side lifted farther and farther until it fell over completely and slid off the tracks in a rush of igniting sparks. It slammed down in to the grass going full speed, then it burst into flames, but they were quickly extinguished as the train crashed into Obel Lake.

Nida's back slammed against the glass of the window with a loud thud, creating a web of cracks to span outward. Water rushed in from the door way and the broken window above, "Cho, Hold your breath." Nida shouted, holding on to a chair to climb to his feet get his head above water. Cho was already over his head in Nida's arms, just waiting for the boy to let go.

The glass window beneath them shattered, dropping both Nida and Cho down out of the train and into deeper waters at the bottom of the Lake. Nida finally released his grip on Cho.

'Cho!' Shadow called out worriedly.

'I'm ok, I'm ok.' Cho called out hastily in his head, trying to swim against and undertow created by the descending train. He watched as the slowly falling locomotive slammed head first into the lake bed, driving a cloud of dust outward... 'Shadow...do you see that?' Cho drifted almost lifelessly as he stared strait ahead at the oncoming cloud, he saw something, something black and shrouded in the darkness. 'What--what is that?'

'Cho, humans need air don't they?' Shadow asked.

'Yeah but-'Cho was suddenly reminded how much his lungs needed air, '!' he immediately clinched his throat and made a mad dash for the surface, but he found for some reason he wasn't going anywhere. Before he had time to even try and see why, he felt two arms wrapping around his waist and pulling him upward, Nida.

As soon as he felt air, Cho opened his mouth wide and gasped. "There is something down there!"

Nida reached upward and pushed a wet strand of hair out of his face "You can't be serious."

! - ! - !

Seifer was relatively unworried about his teammates as he followed the railroad tracks, Matthew walking behind him with his head down, looking down at his box sadly. Unfortunately it had been flattened on his fall down the hill, and he was particularly depressed about it, it seemed important. Seifer wasn't worried about it, he found this whole situation too suspicious to be worried about it.

"What the hell?" Seifer looked ahead curiously when he saw the train just ahead, derailed and laying on it's side. He immediately charged forward, running along the 5 cars with Matthew following until he reached the point where the train ended up, with half of it in a lake.

"Seifer." Nida called down, sitting on top of the overturned cars with Shadow laying next to him. "I'm glad to see you two are alright."

Shadow jumped down, landing at Seifer's side "What happened?"

"Nothing much, just got stranded." Seifer said, obviously down playing what happened. "Where's Cho?"

Shadow nudged toward the lake "Underwater."

"Why?"

"Looking for something."

Cho silently rose from the depths, using the train as a ladder to climb out of the water.

"Find anything?" Nida asked.

Cho shook his head "No, but I heard something. I think the radio is still working."

Nida seemed more interested now "So, what did they say?"

Cho shrugged "It was all garbled, I couldn't understand a word."

Nida sighed, "Well, I guess we're walking then." The prospect of walking to Timber from here wasn't so inviting.

Nida and Cho began to climb down while Matthew sat down, figuring a small break was in order. Shadow just laid down indifferently, waiting for them...he lifted his head an twitched his ears. "Something's coming our way."

Seifer looked over towards him "Huh?"

"Something's coming from this way." He indicated something farther down the track "...It sounds like..." Shadow thought about it for a moment, trying to place the sound he was hearing. "Like that did." He nudged his head toward the wrecked train.

"It sounds like a train?" Seifer asked skeptically, he looked along the track. "I can't see anything, What about you guys?"

Nida, being taller, stood up strait and lifted his hand over his eyes to block out the sun's glare. "I don't know...something is on the tracks defiantly coming our way. It probably is a train...but--" Nida looked closer, just now barely hearing the sounds of a train approaching. "It doesn't look like a commercial train. What do you guys make of it?"

"You said you heard the radio receiving something, right Cho?" Matthew asked. Cho nodded "Then I think this train is here to help us."


	5. Chapter 5: Zone in

Chapter 5: Zone in.

Carbuncle wondered around aimlessly though the still unfamiliar halls of the Garden, Zell was somewhere around though Carbuncle wasn't sure were, and Bahamut was out training in an attempt to regain the time lost while recovering. Carbuncle didn't feel like going with either one of them at the moment, he wasn't completely helpless after losing his memory and he needed to start showing that.

In away, a very small way, it was almost liberating. He had a distinct feeling that he'd seen some horrible things, that he felt some horrible things, knew things he didn't want to remember before in his life. Now he didn't...Carbuncle sighed, at least that's what he'd been telling himself, but honestly that's not the way he felt. He couldn't count how many moments in the day he spent trying to remember anything at all, but it just wasn't there anymore.

He didn't know where he was, or who all of these people were, he just figured it was time for him to find out. Luckily he'd decided to do this between classes so there weren't so many people around, though the ones that were still around or not in class were giving him some questioning looks. It was unnerving, but Carbuncle still forced himself to go through with this, he had to eventually.

"Uh...where am I?" Carbuncle looked the confusing circle of hallways, feeling himself getting dizzy. "Ok...infirmary...uh...what's that place...which way did I come from? Ah damnit! I'm so confused." He held his paws over his head and scowled to himself internally.

"Aren't you a GF!"

'Huh?' Carbuncle turned around questioningly at the sudden outburst. "?" A boy was behind him with a finger a outstretched toward and in a ready stance, dressed in school uniform he looked as if he was a junior classmen. "What?"

"Carbuncle." The boy said surely, he had short white hair and blue eyes, looking about 15 years old and just a foot shorter then Zell. Except for the hair he almost reminded Carbuncle of him. "I knew I'd recognize a GF like you."

Carbuncle didn't remember this person, of course it wasn't surprising since he didn't remember much of anything. "Uh...do I know you? Well I guess I should ask did I know you?"

"Did I know you? What do you mean?" The boy asked.

"If I forgot you I'm sorry, I lost my memory...Uh, what's this place called?" Carbuncle surveyed his surroundings with the hope that one last look or at lest a name would trigger a memory of direction since he was lost and had no idea how to get back to Zell's room.

The boy thought about it for a moment, a GF wondering around the Garden with no memory, particularly a strong one that wasn't attacking him or even knew he was looking for a fight. 'Maybe this is the mystery GF I've been hearing about...but I was told it's only seen at night and it's big and...Carbuncle is strong...it'll work just fine.' An idea was forming in the boy's head... "I...can't believe you don't remember _me_."

Carbuncle lowered his head and looked at the ground, he remembered that look on Nida's face and that brought up a particularly depressing feeling in him. He felt the same one now, only it was only half as bad at most. "Sorry...who are you?"

"My name is..." The boy paused 'Think of a name...think of a name!' "--Alex." The student deemed Alex knelt down next to Carbuncle "Well it's alright I guess." He smiled "This must be harder for you then it is for me, I couldn't imagine what it would be like not to remember anything any anybody at all."

"I remember a few things, some of them clearly." Carbuncle said.

"Really?" Alex looked down on him interestedly "Like what?"

"There's the boy, his name is Zell. I remember that I've been with him...but I can't remember for how long or anything about him besides his name. And a dragon named Bahamut, I know I've been with him too.--"

'Zell?' Now things started to make since 'Zell, the same guy who helped defeat the sorceress. Then this must be his GF, and a Dragon? That must be another one of Zell's GFs. Great, if he remembers him then there's no chance and I really could have used something like Carbuncle...No, there has to be away.' "How far back do you remember?"

"A few days."

"So...you don't remember anything about us." Alex dropped his head and sighed disappointedly.

"I'm sorry." Carbuncle was feeling worse and worse by the minute... "Could you tell me about it?"

"Well, it's better then losing you completely, and I guess that I can tell you everything I remember about you and I." Alex said decidedly "Do you even know where you are?"

"No."

"Then I'll show you around, I'll teach you everything I know!" Alex said excitedly, the prospect of mentoring someone, teaching someone something was appealing to him. He was actually looking forward to it.

"Really?" Carbuncle looked up.

"Sure!"

! - !- !

"Maybe it's a transport train." Cho speculated, watching from atop the wreckage of their former train which was now 2 cars deep into Obel Lake and scorched on most parts internally. "Shipping supplies or something like that."

"That's a possibility." Nida agreed.

"No, that's not it." Matthew said, watching the train now only about 200 feet away with anticipation. They could see and hear it clearly now, they could also see and hear the brakes being engaged. "It's stopping, It must be him."

"Him?" Seifer inquired "Who would _him_ be?"

The train came to a stop right before them, both Cho and Nida turned and looked on carefully, Seifer didn't move from his spot on the ground and Shadow seemed reasonably interested. "That can only be one person." Matthew said with a smile. A small bit of smoke rose from the top of the lead car as a door on the second car slid open. A man with a short sleeved white shirt, blue shorts with short and spiky blue hair emerged from the inside, green eyes scanning over the group. "Zone."

Zone jumped out, running over to Matthew and crouching down next to him. "Matt! What happened!"

"Who is this guy?" Seifer asked, who ever it was came from the direction of Timber, and he could give them a ride back so he could be done with this whole thing. "You know him?"

Zone looked at Matthew and then at around at Cho, Nida, Seifer and Shadow, "You guys must be the SeeDs, what happened here?"

"Well, those other guys came after me." Matthew said "It was really strange, that train was full of passengers, and they all disappeared suddenly. That's when those other guys came, but they protected me."

Zone nodded, staring over Matthew's shoulder at the wreaked train behind him. "Wow, what did those---! Owwwwww!" Zone cringed and fell over, clinching his stomach tightly. "Owwww!"

"Are, you ok?" Nida jumped down from the train, running over to the fallen Zone.

"Don't worry about him." A second man climbed down from the train's interior, a green jacket and a hat covering black hair. "Stomach cramp, it happens sometimes."

"That's a stomach cramp?" Seifer lifted his head and looked over the man "If that's a cramp what does a headache look like?"

"Seifer." Nida shot him back a look, Seifer lifted his hands in surrender and turned away. "You two know Matthew?"

"Yes." The second man nodded "I'm Watts and this is Zone." Watts indicated Zone still on the ground.

"Hey wait!" With sudden realization Cho jumped down from the wreak and ran over to Watts and Zone, "I remember you." Cho pointed to Zone "And I've heard of you guys, Timber Owls right?"

"That's right." Zone stood up from the ground, dusting himself off. "I remember you too! Your the punk who cheated me out of my money when I came to that Chocobo forest." During his escape from Timber with Watts 4 years ago, their trip involved stopping at a Chocobo forest, where Cho proceed to scam the unwitting Zone out of a good amount of money.

"You were the one who toped off my funds, thanks." Cho snickered, lifting his arms casually behind his head and looking towards the lake innocently. He muttered silently "Sucker."

"Why you little--!" Zone ran at Cho, but was quickly grabbed by Nida and Watts.

"Easy sir, he's just a kid." Watts planted his feet in the ground and pulled back sharply, halting Zone completely.

"Cho!" Nida shouted in a chastising voice.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Cho apologized. "If it makes you feel better, that money helped me get into Balamb Garden. I'm a SeeD now."

Zone sighed and stopped "I guess it doesn't matter now, since you _did_ help Matthew out." Seeing that Zone was calm, Nida and Watts let the man go.

"Uh Zone..." Matthew walked up to the man, holding his head almost disappointedly. "I failed."

"Failed?" Zone asked. "What do you mean failed? Your here, alive."

"But the package was destroyed." Matthew continued to avert Zone's gaze. "Everything we worked so hard for is gone, I should have been more careful."

Zone rubbed the boy's hair roughly, "Don't worry about it! We'll just get the other one." He said with a confident smirk.

"What?" Watts peered over to Zone's shoulder unsurely "Uh, sir...Is that a good idea?"

"We did it once, we can do it again."

"We barely managed to pull it off last time, you almost died!"

"I'm alive, I'm still standing aren't I." Zone announced in a cocky manner.

"Barely." Matthew hid the word with a cough then cleared his throat "So we're really going to do this?"

"Hold on, wait, wait." Seifer used his sword to pull himself on to his feet, "What are you guys talking about?"

Watts clinched the hand on his head to keep it from being blown away during a sudden breeze, "Unfortunately, we have to go back to Deling."

"Deling?" Seifer glanced at the three, Matthew particularly. "We're only suppose to get this kid to Timber, no one said anything about Deling."

Matthew nodded "This is the only way we're going to be able to replace that package. Looks like you guys are going along for the ride."

Nida and Seifer glanced at each other, then turned to Cho, the three of them convened by the weakage next to Shadow. "What's next o'fearless leader?" Seifer asked.

Nida rolled his eyes "You really hate not being in charge huh?"

"Almost as much as I hate taking orders, you didn't answer the question."

"I say we do it." Cho said energetically "Look how much happened already, I wanna find out who those people were."

Nida turned to his other teammate "What do you say Seifer?"

Seifer snorted "Why are you asking me, your the guy in charge."

'Oh, he seriously doesn't like being a subordinate to his peers...' Nida shook his head, "The only way I can have an effective team is if every one...or at lest the majority agrees with choices like this."

"Do we really have a choice in this?"

"Well not really, but technically..." Nida didn't want to go into detail about this. "So should we do this?"

Seifer nodded. "I say we go for it."

"Hey, SeeD huddle!" Zone came in behind Nida and Cho, looking over the three "You guys coming or what?"

"Yes, but you understand that we're only protecting Matthew right?" Nida was obligated to make that clear.

"He's the one that needs protecting..." Zone's voice trailed off, then he abruptly crouched down "Owwww! Cramp!"

Seifer rolled his eyes 'You have to be kidding me.'

! - ! - !

"No way, you have to be lying." Carbuncle laughed hard and shook his head in disbelief, "Hahhaha--Stop, I can't breathe--Hahhaha."

"I'm not." Alex said, rubbing the back of his head. Telling stories off the top of his head was harder then he thought it would be at first, so he started taking things that had actually happened to him and adding Carbuncle. It turned out to be embarrassing, _very_ embarrassing. "Humph!" Alex turned away and folded his arms angrily.

"Aww, don't be like that." Carbuncle stifled the rest of his laugher, jumping off the empty stage set up in the quad, "It was funny, admit it."

Alex glanced back at him, "Yeah right." He sighed in defeat, pushing himself back on to the stage. "That _was not_ funny."

"Lighten up." Carbuncle nudged Alex's leg, "Come on, tell me more."

"Alright, where did a leave off." Alex looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of something else to say. "Do you remember how to fight, any of your moves?"

"I not sure how much of it I remember but I know a few Shields. Elementals and stuff like that."

'Great, he remembers! I really can use him them.' Alex smiled inwardly, this was all going to be all worth it. 'And he's actually going for it!...Huh?' "Did you feel something?"

"Is...this place moving?" Carbuncle rose on his heals uneasily. "Is this place supposed to be moving?"

"Oh yeah, me must be pulling out of FH..." Alex saw the confused look on Carbuncle's face "I'll explain."

! - ! - !

"I see you guys have a dog." Zone knelt down next to a glaring Shadow, reaching out to rub his head.

"Uh, Zone, I wouldn't do that if I were you...he might uh...bite you or something" Matthew warned, looking around the familiar interior of the train as if to make sure it was all there.

"It's alright, I'm good with dogs." Zone said "He won't bite _me._ See, watch." Zone laid his hand between Shadow's ears, making Shadow's glare intensify.

"I'm not a dog, and if you call me that again I _will_ bite you." Shadow growled.

Zone jumped back "It-It talks! What is that thing!"

Shadow looked away, laying his head on his paws and turning his eyes toward the wall.

"I see you met Shadow." Cho walked into the room after taking a look around the Timber Owl's headquarters, he saw Zone's little reaction. "Don't feel to bad, your not good with Chocobo either."

"You little--"

"Sir, I think we should start working on a plan." Watts interrupted. "Like How we're going to get past this train wreak."

Zone snorted and looked away from Cho "Yeah." He nodded, lifting his hand to his chin "I got it! We ram though it, simple. This baby's got enough tork to push two measly train cars out of the way."

"That's genius sir! I'll get right on it." Watts called back, heading for the lead car.

'!' Zone cringed suddenly and crouched down against the wall "Owwww!"

'This guy can't be serious.' Cho shook his head and sat down on the steps, waiting with his head tilted toward the window. There was a small vibration when the locomotive started to move, clearly by Watt's influence, Cho leaned back, resting his elbows and back on the stair behind him. 'I wonder how long this is going to take, maybe I can take a nap...' The thought of continuing his previous sleep seemed feasible, and so inviting that he didn't even move. He just laid his head back and closed his eyes.

There was a small vibration and grinding sound that followed, Cho figured it was Watts pushing against the train...

"Great! It's working." Zone pressed his hands against the wall and looked out the window, turning his head far enough to see the train pushing through their barricade. "We can get moving then."

Seifer jumped over Cho from the top of the stairs in haste "Hey Zone, we're about to have some serious problems." He kicked Cho in the leg, startling the boy into waking up. "Your guys just spotted something coming towards us."

Zone pulled back from the window "What? I'll be right there." Zone nodded and ran up the now clear steps into the next car, down the hall and into the first door where 3 men were sitting at technical and large processing equipment wall to wall in the small room. "What is it?"

The man sitting by the central wall at a large Mainframe that had 5 screens, on large one and 4 more to it's side, call Zone over. The second screen down was radar, apparent by the green background and sweeping hand going over beeping dots, which is the one the man pointed too. "We have 5 vehicles coming directly towards us, our radios picked up Galbadian air chatter."

"Galbadia." Zone scowled to himself, watching Nida, Seifer and Cho enter the room, followed by Matthew pushing his way through. "Matthew, go down into the strategy room."

"No way!" Matthew shouted "I'm sick of hiding! I want to fight!"

"Matthew this is no time for that!" Zone said firmly "Go now."

"No Zone! I'm not going to run away, I can fight them and you know I can!"

"That's not the point! Go!" Zone pointed toward the door and stood adamantly. Matthew scowled, glaring angrily at Zone before storming out of the room. Sure that the boy was gone completely, Zone slumped and sighed "That kid...Alright, you think we can outrun them?"

"Watts is going as fast as he can but they're gaining on us." A second man said "We have no choice but to head back toward Dollet, If we can reach that bridge half way then it will slow them down enough for us to get away...but I don't know if we can make it."

There was a small whistling sound, followed by an explosion that shook the whole train, they nearly fell to the ground. That was followed by the sound of something climbing up the walls from the out sides. "They're on top of us, you guys get out there and do something." Zone said, running past them, "I'll go help Watts...Owwww! Not now!"

"Seifer, Cho." Nida looked over at his teammates. "We don't have time to waste, are you ready?"

"I just have to get Shadow." Cho turned around and headed for where he left his GF behind, but Shadow was already behind him. "Good timing!"

"Something's happening, we're under attack." Shadow said, his eyes shifting to the wall where two large indents were made next to them. "I smell humans, and monsters."

"Monsters?" Seifer inquired. "They must really be after something if they're using monsters. We better get out there now before they rip this place apart."

"Ready Cho?" Shadow asked.

Cho nodded to Shadow "Yeah, let's junction."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Nida pushed open the door, letting in a steady stream of strong wind, carefully he peeked outside. Behind them he could see 3 SUVs trailing, one was riding along side of them and Nida figured there was another in a similar position on the opposite side. More pressingly he saw a Grat crawling up the side of the train, one of many other monsters. Nida held on to a rail inside, holding a gun outward with his other and firing a shot into the creature's chest, it fell to the ground painfully. "Let's go, Cho, make sure you watch yourself up there, you could easily fall." Nida jumped upward and pulled himself up on to the roof of the train, Seifer lifted Cho up before climbing up himself.

The fact that the ground was curved and the wind blowing in their faces only served to push them backwards didn't seem so bad when they saw their enemies had the same problems. There were 5 cars on this train, they were standing on number two, meaning they had enemies to fight in front of them and behind. Behind them were two Galbadian soldiers in blue suits and a Death Claw, a large gray bear like creature with 4 large claws coming from it's shoulders and arms. In front of them, 2 Wendigos, bulky creatures that are ape like in shape though with out a face.

"You two take the back, you can't handle something as strong as them yet." Seifer faced forward, waiting until Cho and Nida turned around toward the enemy behind him. Seifer drew his gunblade back and rushed forward, slashing one of the creatures across the shoulder hard enough to draw substantial amounts of blood and knocking it back on the ground.

Nida lifted both guns and fired duel shots into the solider on the left, the man lifted the blade upward then swung it towards him in a fire spell counter, engulfing Nida's torso in a flash of up rising heat. Moving carefully, Cho ran forward toward the second man, drawing his rod back by his waist and thrusting it forward into the man's stomach. The man countered, bring his sword upward from the ground and slashing him across his chest, Cho stumbled back 'whoa!' he had to put his staff down and catch himself from falling off. Nida grabbed him by the arm and pulled him forward, gaining a nod of thanks from the boy.

Both Wendigos charged at Seifer, making the ground shake lightly in their wake, Seifer jumped to the side and avoided a fist coming at him from the left, but the Wendigo on the right landed a punch across his jaw. Seifer was knocked backwards, sliding down the curved surface toward the quickly passing ground behind them. "Ohh Shit!" Seifer lifted his clinched gunblade and drove it down into the metal ceiling, enough to catch himself just before it was too late.

"Are you ok back there?" Nida glanced back lightly, that split second lapse in awareness was enough for the Death Claw to rush forward and latch on to him with a tight Bear Hug that took full use of the 4 claws. Nida struggled and kicked, within a few seconds it was enough to free himself from blades digging into his back. Nida drove his shoulder into the bear, causing it to slip backwards and fall off the train. A simple strategy, Nida wasn't strong enough to beat it yet so just use his surroundings to do it for him.

Purple lights streamed out of the solider on the left, pulling 9 Fire spells out of the man, casting one. "Fire!" Cho held one arm out as a small flicker of light washed outward from his heals, flames rushed upward over the man's body, making him take a step backwards from the weak spell. 'This isn't so hard.'

'Cho, move to your left.' Shadow said

Cho jumped to his left without question, just barely avoiding the sword of a Galbadian solider. Two bullets flew over his head caused by Nida attacking, striking the man in the back and giving him that push needed to send him falling overboard. Almost immediately afterwords Cho felt a cringe in his head from Shadow getting his attention 'Cho! Get down now!' The GF yelled.

Cho dived to the ground, waiting for a few seconds without seeing any sign of a reason. He glanced to his left, then to his right "Why am I down here?" He asked, almost as if on que Gunfire was directed towards the three of them from a Glatting gun mounted on top of one the trailing vehicles on the ground bellow, particularly the one on the left side of the train. "Are these guys crazy?"

"No, they just want us out of the way." Nida charged forward, grabbing hold of the remaining guard and using him as a shield against the bullets sweeping over the train, then pushing him over afterwards. Nida and Seifer had to crouch down again while the Glatting gun took another sweep, this time hitting one of the Wendigos and forcing it overboard. "Seifer, we have to take those cars out or else we're dead."

"I know, Thundaga!" Seifer called out, sending a pillar of lighting raining down from the sky and striking the hood of the green SUV to their left, it was strong enough to cause the car to jump up slightly and lose speed, but it kept coming. "I'm not good with magic and attacking things from a distance. You and Shadow are going to have to do this Cho."

"Alright!" Cho began going through the process of summoning while Seifer and Nida waited, unfortunately the gun's fire was becoming more accurate and closer to hitting them with each sweep, Nida was hit in the arm. And at the rate Cho could summon and the strength of Seifer's magic...

Fortunately some help came and just in time. A grenade sailed through the air, bouncing off the attacking car's grill and exploding. It was strong enough to flip the machine over and leave it tumbling behind in a trail of dust. "Are you guys alright up there?" Zone called up from the train's interior.

"We are now." Cho said gratefully, right before the three of them faded away and Shadow took their place. His eyes were set on to the second Car falling on the train's right, getting ready to attack. Shadow rose on to his toes growling fiercely while a long blade more then twice the size of his body extended from his forehead. The wolf dived off the train, rolling through the air and slicing through the side of the vehicle with the blade, followed by an explosion just as Cho, Nida and Seifer reappeared.

2 of the 3 cars following behind the train pulled up along both sides of it and took the place of the previous 2.

"We'll let Zone handle what's on the ground, we still have 2 more cars to clear." Nida pulled himself off the ground, fighting against the wind as he ran forward on to the third car followed by Cho, who used him as a wind shield and Seifer. A Granaldo, a large dragon fly like monster, with it's usual pair of Armadodos, armadillo like creatures with a humped back covered with a green shell. "Cho, it's useless for you to try to reach the Granaldo, so focus on the monsters on the ground." Nida instructed, "you should be able to bait them into falling off the train if you try hard enough."

"Right." Cho nodded and got ready. Watching the Granaldo fly over the Armadodo on the left, drawing it's tail back and then slamming the creature forward. It curled into a ball, rolling forward towards Nida, slamming into his chest and knocking him to the ground. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, those things hit hard so watch it."

Seifer pulled his gunblade back, running forward and slashing the same Armadodo across the head, killing it in one hit. Again the Granaldo flew over the remaining Armadodo, slamming it's tail into the monster and sending it rolling forward into Cho. "Uuuffff!" Cho hit the ground and nearly forcing him off the ceilings.

Zone ducked down, pressing his back against the wall and crouching his head while bullets from another Glatting gun on the train's east side tore through the windows and walls. "Owwww, not now!" Zone shouted, clinching his stomach from another sharp pain, he forced himself to fight through it. He drew another grenade from his inventory, peering his head over the broken window and throwing the grenade at the car to his left. But not before taking 2 shots in the stomach, effectively nullifying the previous pain with something even worse. '...!' He reached into his inventory and retrieved his last Hi-potion.

Watts was driving, doing his best to go faster, and the rest of his crew was trying to keep the damage to a minimum. So that left him on his own.

9 Streams of purple light were absorbed into Cho carrying Shell spells from the Granaldo. The Dragon Fly countered by flying head first into Seifer, who was strong enough to stay standing after merely being forced back a step. Nida aimed carefully, trying to get a lock on the Flying monster, his fairly bad aim caused him to miss one shot but the second one struck the creature in the back, the last attack needed to shoot it down once and for all.

"Nida...wait!" Cho called out, painting heavily, "I..-"

"Hold on kid I got you." Seifer dug around in his coat pocket until his hand emerged with a Hi-potion in his palm. He tossed it over to Cho, who drank it quick enough, causing him to cough.

"That stuff is terrible!" Cho coughed a little more and spit the rest of it out.

"It helps if you hold your noise and drink it all in one swallow. Ready?" Nida looked ahead toward the final car top ahead where 2 more soldiers in blue uniforms where.

"Yeah, let's go."

Zone looked inside his inventory, trying to find something else he could use, he didn't have much since he generally wasn't the fighting type, though there were a few weapons stored around here. "There has to be something damnit!"

"Zone!"

Zone looked up toward the stairway to the next car, one of his crew members was standing in the door way with a steel box. "Here, use these." He called out, tossing the box over to him.

Zone nodded gratefully, opening the box containing another 12 grenades. With one in his hand he crawled over to the other window and saw the other Galbadian armored car right next to the train. The Glatting gun mounted on top tilted down toward Zone and opened fire, bullets tore a long line in the floor leading up to Zone, striking him with 10 shots across his torso. "Uuufff!" Zone fell, sliding along the ground a few feet before his back slammed into the opposite wall and bringing him to a stop.

"Owww, that hurt." Picking himself up again, Zone ran to the window, pulling the pin out off the grenade and throwing it through the window of the car. "Eat this you Galbadian bastards!" An explosion followed, one that spewed flames and propagated a shockwave over the interior of the train laying next to it. Zone was nearly thrown out. "Oohhfff!"

2 canyon walls rolled past the train, so close that the tracks barely had enough room to pass in-between them, after that they rolled on to a bridge. Taking notice of that, Seifer quickly finished off the Galbadian solders with a tornado spell, tearing them off of ceiling and scattering them someplace behind them. "Is that all of them?" Cho asked.

"No." Nida pointed back behind the train where the last car was riding along the tracks behind them, and doing so quite effectively. "There's still one--" He was cut off by the abrupt sound of an explosion from a grenade, the Galbadian vehicle flipped over in a cloud of flames followed by the a second explosion, this time from the truck itself. "I guess not."

! - ! - !

"Ok, what the hell was that?" Seifer climbed back down the stalled train, dropping to the ground and into the train. "What did you guys do to them?"

"_We_ didn't do anything." Zone glanced over to them, still sitting against the same wall and unwilling to move though he probably could, it was just easier this way. Matthew opened the door to the strategy room quite angrily, until he saw Zone. "Zone! Are you alright!"

"Calm down, I'm fine." Zone waved him off discardingly. "Just a few scratches."

"You should have let me help!" Matthew placed his hands on Zone's chest and immediately after a green light radiated from his body from a cast full-cure spell.

"You know it was too dangerous." Zone held on to the broken window frame and pulled himself on to his feet to test out the spell, "And we pulled it off by ourselves anyway, so stop worrying about it..." Zone's voice trailed off again as he crouched back down and clinched his stomach "Ow, ow, ow, ow..."

Matthew placed his hand on Zone's stomach, casting an Esnua spell. "Better?"

"Yeah, thanks kid."

"Where'd you get a GF?" Cho asked.

"GF?" Matthew shook his head "I don't have a GF."

'No GF?' Cho thought about it for a moment."...What? Then how--"

Another one of the crew members emerged from the previous car. "Zone, something else is coming in our direction."

Zone sighed, "More Galbadian soldiers..."

"No, it's Balamb Garden."


	6. Chapter 6:The new plan

Chapter 6: The new plan

"Well, I'm glad that your happy." Zell threw a punch blindly into the bag before him, followed by a swift round house kick. He was doing some training with a bunching bag hung in his dorm in front of his bedroom, he'd already moved all of the furniture to the wall for more room. "Ready?"

Carbuncle tensed lightly, causing the small jewel on his head to flicker with a red flash and a shield to suddenly appear as if a light had been shined on it. It was made completely out of diamond. "I still know how to do this, hmm."

Zell punched the wall in an attempt to break through, though he knew it wouldn't be done that easily. "So I guess it's my turn to start telling you what happened. I guess Bahamut can only tell so much since he wasn't there the whole time."

Carbuncle became a little more excited "So what are you going to tell me about?"

"Well, everything. I guess the only way to do that is to start from the beginning." Zell paused and looked down at Carbuncle "Are you sure you want to hear this now, because if I stop during a story I always seem to get lost."

Carbuncle nod. "Yeah!"

! - ! - !

"Let me get this strait, you want me to rewrite the existing contract." Squall sat down against the edge of his desk, looking over Zone and Mathew carefully. "And why would that be?"

"Well, we never made it to Timber." Mathew said "The train, kinda blew up."

"How did that happen?"

"We were set up from the start." Mathew said. "All of the passengers were fakes and the guys I need protection against came after me. One thing lead to another and now the train's in Obel lake, just think, if they could do this then what else are they capable of."

"And..." Zone shifted around in his back pocket "We still have the old contract, the one that says we get SeeDs until Timber is liberated."

Squall raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Timber is liberated isn't it?"

Zone and Mathew looked at each other "I forgot, you guys were missing for like 4 years." Zone said with a spark of remembrance. "After the sorceress thing and Galbadia lost control of the Lunatic Pandora, they started putting a tighter hold on places like Timber, there's a guard on every corner. Timber's under complete martial law, it's even worse then before."

Squall looked over that familiar paper, If Timber was still under Galbadian control then Zone was right and the contract was still binding. "Fine, what is it that you want?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Your thinking too hard." Irvine pushed the barrels of the two guns in front of him down. "The key to good aiming is that you have to be relaxed, your fist are clinched really hard."

Nida looked down at his hands, Irvine was right, his knuckles were becoming pail. He took a deep breath and tried to relax to an extent at lest.

"There is no reason to be so tense, you'll only make yourself tired that way." Irvine pointed to Nida's target, a Grat that lay before them in the Garden's training center. "Ok, try it again, you should be able to do it in one round."

Nida lifted the black pistols and fired twice, two bullets stuck the monster in it's stomach and knocked it off it's feet and on to the ground. "That's better." Irvine patted him on shoulder lightly, "Your a fast learner."

Nida rubbed the back of his head modestly "Yeah well."

"Your pretty good with still objects, let's try something moving." Irvine lifted his hand to his chin and looked around, the only suitable thing he could find was a bug bite somewhere nearby. "That, that's perfect. Do you see it?"

"Yes."

"Great, see if you can hit it from where you are."

Nida lifted the guns again and tried to aim, only he found it considerably harder from where he was. It was harder then it seemed. Nida fired while he was still able to stay relaxed, one bullet passed just above the insect's wing and the second flew in front of it's head.

"You have to learn to judge proportion better, try closing one eye."

Nida followed directions obediently, closing his left eye. "Good, now you see that little notch on the edge of your guns, at the very end of the barrel." Irvine asked. Nida nodded again. "Try lining that up to eye level."

Nida elevated the right gun slightly, which was the one he was lining up. "Alright."

"Now aim at the same monster...You got it? Now lifted those guns up just a little bit, good. Now aim at a spot just ahead of it and shoot."

Nida did as he was told, lifting the gun up just a little so that the notch was no longer aligned directly and then shifted his aim to the left so that they were directly in front of the bug bite. Then he quickly opened fire, and the insect abruptly fell from the sky with a bullet in it's thorax and some place relatively centered in it's body. "It worked."

"Of course it did. Just keep practicing doing it that way for a while, because you won't have time in a fight." Irvine sat down on the ground, resting his hands on his metal shotgun. "Wanna keep going?"

"Yes, please."

"Fine then."

! - ! - !

"This place is always empty this time of day." Cho said, standing in the center of the Quad which was empty just as he had said. "It's just me and you, no interruptions."

"How do expect me to do this?" Shadow inquired.

"Just give me a little training, I'm sure someone like you knows lots of stuff." Cho reached behind his back and retrieved the metal rod. "I don't know how to use this thing, teach me something."

"I don't know anything to teach." Shadow snorted.

Cho thought about it, "You have to know something, how did you learn to fight?"

"By fighting."

"Well then, fight me."

"What?"

"I need some training, and you learned how to fight through actually fighting so why can't I?" Cho said confidently, holding the staff in a position he found most comfortable. Which was with double handed. "Just take it easy on me."

"Are you sure about this?" Shadow asked hesitantly, he wasn't sure he knew how to take it easy. "And what do you mean take it easy?"

"Just tone down the attacks a little." Cho told him, take a step back. "Alright, here I come!" He charged forward, turning to the side just as he came upon Shadow and thrusting the end of the staff at him. Shadow crouched a few inches and easily avoided it, watching Cho pull back the rod and thrust it at Shadow again, who opened his mouth and bit down hard on the rod, preventing farther attack.

"Am I going at a good enough pace for you?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah." Cho nodded, kicking Shadow sharply and pulling his weapon back. "This is good." Cho lifted the staff above his head and jumped into the air, swinging it at Shadow on his decent. Shadow merely went under him while Cho was still in the air then kicked him with his hind legs. "Ouuufff!" Cho was knocked forward and hit the ground a few feet later face first with a loud thump. "Wow, I'm still getting my ass kicked."

"Your attacks are too predictable." Shadow told him. "Since your a human, you should use magic first since it seldom misses."

Cho pushed his torso off the ground, the rest of his body following. "I'm not junctioned, I can't use magic."

"Then you need to be quicker."

"That's not going to happen overnight, not with out a haste spell at least."

"If both of those will be a problem for you..." Shadow paused for a moment after studying Cho's form while the boy attacked. A high level monster could easily see what was coming and evade or counter him. "Then you need to change your way of attacking, your too focused on hitting your enemy with all your strength then actually hitting them. Focus on quick attacks that have a better chance of being accurate instead of the powerful ones."

"See, your good at this training thing." Cho complemented.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Seifer." Matthew, who had quite a bit of trouble finding anyone in a place this large, ran after Seifer as soon as he spotted him. He pushed his way through the people in the hallway, apologizing quickly to just about everyone on his way. "Seifer."

'Hmm?' Seifer glanced back, just barely catching a glimpse of the much shorter boy in a crowded place like the Garden between classes. "Oh it's you."

"It took me forever to find any of you guys." Matthew leaned over, holding his hands on his knees and panting heavily. "We got a new contract from Squall, you guys are sticking with us."

"How long?" Seifer asked.

"Until Timber is liberated."

"What? How long is that going to take?" Seifer was needless to say, surprised about this, how was he supposed to know when that was going to happen? Or how? He suspected Squall was just trying to get him out of his hair for a while, apparently a very long while. 'Bastard...' "What the hell are you guys trying to do?"

Mathew expected this reaction "Zone's going to explain it later, when we leave."

"And where is Zone?"

"He's...in the corner of Squall's office."

Seifer rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Might as well get this over with."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

After 2 more hours of trying to track Nida and Cho down, as well as getting ready and trying to pry Zone away from the Cafeteria hot dogs. They managed to leave the garden and make it the short distance back to the train where Watt's was waiting to go. "Did you have any problems?" Zone climbed up the small stairway from the thick planes in front of the bridge and into the second car.

"No sir, not a peep out of radar." Watts said with a hint of relief in his voice, he'd spent the whole time on edge thinking that Galbadian soldiers were going to attack again. "It's getting pretty late, we better get going sir."

"Yeah your right." Zone called back, heading into the next car where the control room was to check on his crew. Mathew trailing behind while Watts left in the opposite direction.

Nida reached back and helped Cho up, who wasn't looking as if he was completely alert. "We're still going to Deling aren't we?" Cho asked.

Mathew peaked his head back in to the room from the next car. "You guys wanted to know what we're doing didn't you? We'll meet you in the strategy room."

! - ! - !

Shortly after the 4 of them entered the room, the train departed towards Deling while Zone did something in the control room with his crew. It probably had something to do with their upcoming objectives.

"It's getting pretty late." Nida said "Do you think it would be wise to attempt to do anything in Deling after a day like this?"

"No way, I'm to tired." Cho sat down on the ground and laid his back against Nida's leg 'You really don't no how to take it easy do you Shadow.'

'I warned you that fighting me was unwise.' Shadow said discardingly.

The door opened and Mathew descended the stairs, followed by Zone. Mathew climbed up and sat down on the long table in the center of the room, waiting for Zone to explain things. "Alright guys." Zone sat down on the ground, pressing his back against same table with a small yawn. "Since we're going to be with each other for a while, I should probably start explaining stuff. I'm sure all of you guys know that we got another contract, what else do you want to know?"

"Who were those guys who attacks us?" Nida asked, "And what was with the train, there is no way you can just make all of those people just disappear."

"We're not sure who they are exactly, but we know for sure that they're after him." Zone pointed back at Mathew sitting above from him. "They want all of us dead, especially him. They're strong too. That thing on the train with all the fake people, they can do stuff like that."

"Really? That is really creepy." Cho shuttered. "But how could they know we were getting on that train?"

"I don't know." Mathew shrugged, "The only way that could have happened was if they have somebody...following us around..." His voice trailed off at the realization.. "You think we have somebody spying on us?"

Zone nodded. "You could be right, that would explain lot."

"Hold on, back in Dollet Galbadia was chasing us too." Seifer remembered that clearly, since they were the first people to come after them that day. "And one of the other guys who was chasing us said we were helping Galbadia. Do you know what that was about?"

"As you know, Galbadia are the other people coming after us, they want Mathew too. But they only wanna kill us, they want to capture Mathew alive."

Cho glanced up at Mathew. "Wow, you got a lot of problems."

Mathew nodded. "Yeah I know."

"But why?"

"Well." Zone closed his eyes, he really wanted to just go to sleep. "As you may or not have figured out by now, Mathew is different from everyone else, wanna take a guess at it before I tell you how?"

Nida had pretty good idea "He's a sorcerer."

Cho however had not. "What? Sorcerer?"

"Remember after Galbadia attacked us when I was healing Zone, and you asked me what kind of GF I had, and I told you a didn't junction." Mathew said. "That's why."

"They want him because he's Sorcerer though I don't know what they would do with him if they got him." Zone laid his head back on the table and closed his eyes. "Doesn't matter, we aren't going to let either of them get him."

"It makes sense now." Nida placed his hand on Cho's head and held him in place while he sat down so he wouldn't fall from the loss of support, then let go again after his arm was firmly in place behind the boy. "If you let him fight then it would have been a lot easier for Galbadia to get him."

"I keep telling him that." Zone said, opening his eyes just enough to shoot a look at Mathew.

"Maybe if you would stop treating me like a helpless little kid then you would see that I can do something useful, like fight!"

"I'm not treating you like a little a helpless kid!" Zone shouted "I know you can fight, but sometimes it's smarter not too!"

"When will it be? You never let me do anything." Mathew folded his arms and looked away from Zone angrily.

"Hey, calm down you two." Nida coaxed. "Now why are we going to Deling?"

"You know Galbadia has been with out a leader for the past few years." Zone scowled when he spoke on this topic, for some reason this got him even more angry. "That's what they wanted it to look like, they're not looking like another leader like everyone thinks, they already have someone. Vinzer Deling, he's still President of Galbadia!"

"I thought he was dead." Seifer said with obvious inquisition.

"He wasn't, the Sorceress just took over. And now he's back and really pissed off. He's planning something" Zone smirked. "You used to be really powerful in the Galbadian government weren't you Seifer? You must know a lot of Galbadian secrets, they'll never see us coming!"

"What are we supposed to do in Deling?" Nida asked.

"Well you probably know that Galbadia has an information network, and there own worldwide network with information. Well Watts found out about that network, and he also found out that things like faxes and memos up to designs for weapons and vehicles are stored on that network. All of that may be very useful but what were really after is Galbadia's latest weapon, Deling maybe using this weapon to gain even more power." Zone stretched his arms above his head with another yawn "Of course, we can't let that happen, we still didn't even liberate Timber yet."

"So what do you expect to do?"

"We know Galbadia is very through, and with good reason since there system is constantly prone to hackers. So just incase someone gets in and messes something important up, Galbadia backs everything up every 2 months, twice. We were able to obtain the first back up, which was what Mathew was carrying when you first met him, now we have to get the second." Zone paused for a moment to think about it. "I'm sure security is going to be hell."

"What is the back up exactly?"

"A hard drive."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

A shadowy figure walked out into an open field, leaving parked Balamb Garden in his wake. It was already late, and he didn't want to be out here in the first place. "It's really cold out here, come on, let's do this already."

"Fine." Another figure hidden by darkness met him. "Did you get anything new?"

"Would I be out here in the cold if didn't Dad? Brrrrr, I can't stand cold weather."

"It's not that cold your fine... They aren't wondering too close to the base are they?"

"No, I made sure they went in the other direction as soon as I saw where we were, It'll be gone by morning so just make sure your guys lay low until we leave ok?"

"That's not what you came out here to tell me is it? Is it about Mathew?"

"Yeah, Some SeeDs were assigned to him, they're heading for Deling."

"You know why?" The Father asked.

The son shook his head. "Nope, but they're going tonight. And I heard Galbadia attacked the Timber Owls this morning too so they probably wont do anything yet."

"We can't do anything there any way, Galbadia is in complete control. Damn those bastards, if the Timber Owls end up giving Mathew to them--"

"Calm down Dad."

"See if you can get more information by morning, we need to kill Mathew before Galbadia get's him. Those Idiot are going to get caught and I know it. I'll send a team to do it."

"Oh yeah, Seifer is one of the SeeD's working with the Timber Owls. He could be leading them to Galbadia." The son said.

"Hmm...I'll send two teams then..." The father paused for a moment "Did you find any GFs we can use?" He knew a Garden was the perfect place to look, which was what they were looking for, GFs.

"I don't know yet, but I'm going to bed, I'm freezing. See ya Dad."

"Alright then, stay safe."

"Don't worry about me."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zell sat up in is bed upon hearing the sharp sound of...something. 'What the hell was that?' Zell looked over at Bahamut, who was stilling sleeping next to him, and Carbuncle, who had been his lap and of course was awakened by Zell's sharp upstart.

"What the hell!" Carbuncle failed around in surprise after a cover had been thrown over him. "Hey, what's the big Idea?"

"Oh, sorry." Zell pulled the covers off of Carbuncle, releasing the small GF. "Did you hear that?"

Carbuncle rolled off of his back and rubbed his ears slightly "I didn't hear anything. Maybe it was a dream."

"No I definitely heard something." Zell said surely, he was emphasized by the same sound drifting faintly into the room. Still as unidentifiable as the last time. "Did you hear it this time."

"Yeah, what was it?"

"I have no idea...but I'm gonna find out." Zell lightly pushed Carbuncle to the side enough for him to drag himself out of bed and immediately head for his dresser to find a set of clothing, he wasn't going out there in his underwear. "Coming?"

"Sure, but what about Bahamut?" Carbuncle jumped off the bed and looked over at the clock, it was 3 in the morning, what could possibly be going on?

"No point in waking him up, it could be nothing." Zell pulled on his shorts quickly and threw his shirt on loosely and unbuttoned, before slipping in to his shoes. Carbuncle followed Zell as he walked out of his room and into the dormitory hallway where they paused again. Zell listened out, just barely picking up a soft shuffling sound, right before he heard the other sound he couldn't identify again. "It's...coming from the main hall."

"Let's go then." Carbuncle ran ahead of Zell with a mild curiosity. "What do you think it is?"

Zell easily caught up with him, "I don't know..." Zell's eyes flash a quick look of remembrance, something he'd heard earlier. "Hey, I heard there was a monster in the Garden, but it only comes out at night. You think that's it?"

"I don't know." Carbuncle ran ahead out of the dormitory wing and into the main hall where he stopped abruptly. "Whoa, Zell do you see that?"

Zell looked ahead past the fountain surrounding the elevator to the higher levels, on the side carrying the infirmary, cafeteria, and quad a large shadow projected itself on the wall. They could see what looked like horns and some other things waving with a tentacle like shape. "That's it! Come on we can't let it get away." Zell darted after it, running as fast as he could along the lengthy, curved hallway, Carbuncle following.

"Where is it?" Carbuncle stopped in front of the directory map that sat before the path leading to the closed off front door. "It was just here."

'Hmm.' After looking over every possible direction, Zell instinctively looked down just in case. Finding nothing bellow he turned his gaze upward just in time to spot a long, red tentacle being reeled over the second floor balcony followed by that same noise that had awakened him. It sounded like a screech and a hiss, now that he was closer to it he could hear it better. "It's upstairs."

"Uh...How do we get up there?" Carbuncle asked, trying to remember..."Oh yeah the elevator!"

"It's locked." Zell shook his head, knowing that they were always locked at nighttime to either prohibit misconduct in all of the classrooms or to keep Squall from being bothered while he was sleeping.

"Then throw me up there." Carbuncle suggested, "Hurry, we're gonna lose it."

"Are you sure about that?" Zell picked up the small GF with both hands and lifted him over his head, pausing just to make sure Carbuncle was sure about his plan.

"Yeah," Carbuncle said with a small nod, Zell shrugged and drew the small body back behind his head before lunching him upward with a moderate amount of strength. Carbuncle sailed through the air, above the second floor railing and right into the wall. 'Too much strength Zell!' Carbuncle was forced to curl into a ball and create a shield around himself to absorb the impact, after that he fell safely to the ground with out incident.

He was right in front of the only second floor hallway on the right side of the elevator, 'Where is it?' Carbuncle slowly walked forward in an attempt to be inconspicuous, crouched down low in a sly manner. 'Gotta be around here somewhere...' Carbuncle was soon to find it...'!' That's when he heard the sound of a lock being released and a door being opened, Carbuncle ran towards the source of the sound as fast as he could.

He passed the still closed classroom and stopped right in front of the emergency exit that just slammed in his face. He just barely stopped himself from running into it by a few inches. 'Uh...?'

"Carbuncle." Zell called up from the previous level "Do you see anything?"

"What ever it was, it just went out of this door." Carbuncle jumped on to the railing, holding on with his paws while half of his body hung off the other side. "Whatever it was, it just went out of this door."

"What door?"

"It says 'Emergency exit' on it, it's really big and made of metal."

"It looks like we lost it...Unless!" Zell just got a useful idea, what other place in the Garden was open to the outside? Go there and they might just be able to catch it. "Come on, we might still have a chance."

Carbuncle climbed over the railing and jumped fearlessly down on the first floor and into the hands of an awaiting Zell, then climbed on to his shoulder while Zell turned around and ran back the way they'd just come from. He made a rather sharp turn around the second corner into another hallway leading to the Quad, only to be blocked by metal shutters. "First thing in the morning, I'm getting a master key from Squall."


	7. Chapter 7: Sneaking in

Chapter 7: Sneaking in.

"Hey Carbuncle." Alex looked around after coming upon Carbuncle who himself was looking around. He found the GF at the end of the 2F hallway near the emergency exit after coming from class. "What are you looking for?"

"There was a monster here last night." Carbuncle turned his head to the side and eyed the door carefully, trying to pick up any traces of something, anything it could have left behind. After not detecting anything with the naked eye, he decided to enhance his vision instead of just writing it off. "Diamond Lens." As if a light had just shined on something that had always been there, a clear, round object appeared in front of his face. "Yup, look at this."

"Whoa, that is really cool." Alex dropped his books on the ground and knelt down next to Carbuncle, first looking at the door on his own and finding nothing, then tilting his head to the side just enough to peer through the floating ring with one open eye. "I see something but barely, It's greasy finger prints, and there's a palm print too... Let me see this." Alex took the lens from in front of Carbuncle and held it over his left eye before peering upward along the door and wall. "There's a trail of them, something was climbing the wall...and the ceiling."

"Me and Zell heard something last night about 3 in the morning." Carbuncle said, "Did you hear it?"

"Nope." Alex looked over the lens, shifting it around in his hands "Is this a diamond?"

"Uh-huh." Carbuncle sounded as if he wasn't paying attention anymore, he was too busy looking along the floor "It magnifies magic attacks, it's kinda funny how I remember all of _that_ stuff."

"I got some time between the next class, why don't we head to the training center?" Alex reached over and picked up his books. "You can finish showing stuff and I can tell you more of what happened."

Carbuncle's ear's perked and he looked up. "Ok, but...you have a class at 7 the morning?"

"Yeah, doesn't it suck?" Alex ran a hand through the short white hair on his head and sighed. "They make me get up super early, but it's worth it I guess. I'm trying to become a pilot."

'Nida's a pilot too.' Carbuncle thought "I have I better idea, why don't we train outside?" Carbuncle asked.

"I think we're going to be parked here for a while, why not."

! - ! - !

Cho never realized how long he'd been sleeping until he felt the sunlight shining down on his face from the window. 'Uhhhh...' Cho opened his eyes and rubbed his head. "...What time is it?"

"Around 7." He heard Zone's voice from behind the blinding morning light and blurry morning vision.

Cho sat up, he'd slept on the strategy room floor "Did we sit here all night?" He held on to the table and climbed on to his feet, stretching a little before walking over to the window. "We're in Deling train station."

"Yeah, we were all too tired to even attempt to do anything last night, so we waited." Zone was looking over a few papers on the table in the center of the room. "Get a good rest?"

"Not bad for a sleep on the floor." Cho looked around the room, he and Zone were the only ones here. His teammates must have awaken before him, which he decided he needed to find and headed toward the stairs.

"You know..." Zone glanced over at him from the corner of his eyes "I'm going to win my money back."

"You can keep trying." Cho smiled slightly, opening the door. "But it's gonna cost you." He called back before disappearing out side of the door way.

'Weasel.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Nida never saw this city in the day time, so it struck him as peaceful upon first glance. Besides the overall crowdedness that came with Deling, it was peaceful for a large town, that was until they saw the abundance of soldiers posted and patrolling the city. There were plenty, though the people didn't seem to mind or notice since they were long use to it. Nida didn't think he ever could.

Seifer walked casually through the crowds in the shopping district, Shadow at his heals, Nida on the opposite side and Cho in front. "Is it just me or does anyone else think this wont work?" Cho asked.

"They do seem organized at least, and from what I've heard from Squall they have had some good plans when he dealt with them in the past." Despite what he was saying Nida wasn't so sure about leaving they're fate in the hands of someone like Zone.

"Be realistic, they're idiots." Seifer snorted indifferently. "I can't believe they're not dead yet, with someone like him in charge. Do we really have to listen to him?"

"You couldn't be more blunt huh Sei?" Cho looked around through out the crowd, though at times like this he wished he wasn't so short because he couldn't see anything. 'Why does this place have to be so crowded?'

"We're supposed to be trying to find Zone." Nida reminded them. "Anyone see him?"

Shadow seemed to have been the only one who could noticed who they were looking for, it wasn't hard for him, not with his sense of smell. "He's right there." Shadow stopped in the center of the sidewalk, nudging his head over to the left. The other 3 looked in that direction, and they could only see more people passing in the crowd, none of which who were Zone.

"You found me, not bad." An old man in a mildly used brown coat, with a cane, and gray hair and mustache stopped in front of them. He was hunched over lightly, walking with a small limp and depending heavily on the wooden cane that looked as if it came from weakness due to old age. He stood up strait, but almost right after he hunched over again, dropped the cane and clinched his stomach with both hands. "Ow, ow, ow...!"

Nida, being the closest, leaned over just enough to see the old man's down cast, squinted blue eyes, Zone's eyes. "Zone? That's really you?"

"Wow, that was pretty good." Cho ran over to the disguised Zone and looked over him, "I saw you but I had no idea who you were."

"That's because I'm a master of disguise." Zone lifted his head proudly, apparently he did have some useful talents. "Now keep it down, Galbadia is looking for me remember?" Zone, after having the pain pass, stood up strait again and reached into his pockets. His eyes shifted from side to side just to make sure no soldiers were looking in their direction, and then drew out a small, clear case with a small plug like deceives inside. "Here."

Nida, Seifer and Cho each took one, Nida and Seifer placed it in the ear of their choice while Cho looked at it, unsure of what it was exactly or what to do with it. "What's this?" Cho asked, flipping it around in his hand.

"Ear pieces." Zone said, placing one of them inside of his left ear, and only when he did that did he notice a small strand of blue hair was sticking out behind his ear. Though nearly undetectable you couldn't be to careful. "My guys back on the train can track you and tell you what to do from that." Zone knelt down next Shadow with another ear piece in his hand "Don't bite me ok?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Just get it over with." He closed his eyes and let Zone pull his ear a little and plug it with the device. It felt a little strange, but he could ignore it. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

"It's simple." Zone placed the empty case back into his pocket "Watts did some tracking last night, we found exactly where the second backup, unfortunately it's in the President's Mansion. And security isn't exactly lax around there, so it's going to take some doing to get in. One of my guys also did some surveying last night, we found the places where security is the weakest."

"Where is that?" Nida asked. "Someplace in the back?"

Zone shook his head "Nope. It's the place where no one will ever expect, the front gate. They would will never think some one would ever be stupid enough to try and get in that way--"

"My thoughts exactly." Seifer snorted "Your crazy."

Zone smiled, "Crazy like a fox, I'll create a distraction somewhere near the back so you guys can sneak in. Then Watts will guide you from the train, but for the most part you guys will have to of course avoid being seen and if you come against any soldiers, you'll have to take them out quickly so they won't alert anyone of your whereabouts. And don't worry about getting lost or going down the wrong path, we have all kinds of maps of this place."

"It sounds workable, as long as we don't get caught..." Nida folded his arms and looked up, there weren't as many details as he would have like there to be, but he knew Zone had his crew handling a lot of things and didn't want to worry them with little things. "But what about Cameras?"

Zone pointed to himself "Leave that to me, I can take them off line since they are connected to the primary power, take that out and they go down too. But you'll only have 13 minutes exactly to get in and out before they are connected to the auxiliary generator and go back up. That shouldn't be too hard for SeeDs like you."

"That's cutting it a little close." Seifer said, "And what happened to Matthew?"

"Back with Watts, we couldn't let the train stay here, it would be too obvious. It's circling around outside Deling, but that's why we have to keep a tight schedule. It's going to come back at 7:58, that's 6 minutes after you get out of the mansion so don't be late." Zone emphasized that, looking around again and noticing a few solders were starting to glance their way. "You guys have 3 minutes to get ready and meet me near Deling's mansion." He told them quickly before walking on in to the crowds past them.

Nida looked at his teammates. "Anyone need to do something, we might not have the chance for a while after this." He gained a negative response from the both of them. "Alright then. I need to head to the junk shop, Cho you go to the general store and pick up a few things, and Seifer you can just head down to the meeting location with Shadow if you want."

! - ! - !

"I can't stand this." Matthew pounded his head against the control room wall, he was so frustrated with the whole situation he couldn't stand it. He felt it welling up in him so strongly that he could barely control himself, it was killing him. "Why didn't you guys wake me up! I wanted to come."

"I'm sorry Matt, but it's too dangerous, I couldn't assign you to something like this." Watts said in a pleading manner, he had to make him understand.

"Too dangerous!" Matthew shouted "Everything is always too dangerous, I haven't been able to do anything. does all my training mean nothing? I'm not that weak."

"Matthew." Watts scolded "How many times do I have to tell you that you need to know when to control yourself. Sure you maybe able to handle a few solders but can you imagine how many are in Deling, all of them looking for _you_. I'm just trying to protect you, your only still a 9yr old kid after all."

Matthew sighed and dropped his head, every time Watts scolded him he couldn't help but feel bad, mainly since he didn't do it often. Watts was always the nicest out of every one of the crew members, he could never possibly let a punishment stand or anything of that nature, and he gave him a lot more leniency then anyone else. "I know but... I could have helped at lest since I'm the one who broke the first Backup. Please, let me do something..."

Watts placed his hand on Matthew's shoulder and knelt down next to him "I know how you feel but they'd spot you in a second. It's for the best. Besides, Zone and the others can handle themselves. It's a sneaking mission, anymore people and it would have been a hassle."

"Ok..."

Something started beeping... "Watts, we got a problem!" The man in front of the radar screen turned around in his chair and looked back at the two "We got something heading in our direction, a lot of somethings."

! - ! - !

Nida looked over his new handguns, no longer just plan pistols but M29s with long black tubes attached to the barrels, silencers. They weren't particularly more powerful then what he had before, but they were quicker and more accurate. "I chose this since it might help with the mission." And since they were the loudest weapons out of the group's besides the explosives Zone had used before.

"I guess so." Thinking about that made Cho glance back at the rod on his back, it was protruding above his shoulders just above his neck.

"We should go if we plan to infiltrate this facility." Shadow indicated the large mansion behind the black gates, "We will only draw attention to ourselves by staying here."

"Spiky's right." Seifer agreed, though getting an angry growl from Shadow at the remark "What are we waiting for."

"Zone told us he would give a signal." Nida looked down at his watch, pausing for a moment "It should be coming right about--" The last of his words were cut off by the sound of a loud explosion, exclaimed by the eruption of flames that rolled up the left side of the mansion. They could see the guards at the gate look back, followed by voices of men hurrying toward the source. Another loud explosion sent flames up the concrete wall to the left of the gates, prompting the two men on duty outside to open the gates and find out the cause of the disruption themselves. "That's it, come on, before the gate closes!"

Cho and Seifer shot forward toward the closing gates, Shadow running ahead of them to scout the area before the other's got there. Of course the guards he saw were all heading in the direction of the raging flames, so he waved them onward with his paws before heading for the large pair doors serving as an entrance. The wolf's body seem to drop down into the ground leaving him nothing more then a shadow on the concrete surface, then he slipped under the doors.

On the other side two men were about to exit since they were stationed right behind the doors. "What the hell is that!" One of the men yelled, stopping so abruptly that he nearly fell in front of a reforming Shadow. Shadow didn't give them a chance to speak any farther and raise any actions that would alert others. Instead of reforming into his usual body Shadow stayed a shapeless mass and protruded a wall of long spikes from his body. He caught them off guard, penetrating them in numerous places enough to take them both down in one attack.

Shadow, now completely reshaped, thrust one last spike out from his forehead directly in-between the doors, smashing through the lock and letting them swing open. "Good job Shadow." Nida stood by the door, waving Seifer and Cho in before closing the doors behind them. "Now we have get to the basement." he whispered.

! - ! - !

Zone looked away from the door, able to see that his distraction worked after he spotted the SeeDs making their way inside, but he didn't want to draw his new found attention to them. He now was at the side of the building next to a few steel crates, a parked Galbadian SUV of the same variety of the ones that attacked them the day before. There were 4 Galbadia solders in blue uniforms before him and more insight coming his way. 'Time to get out of here!'

With the sight every power line that had been attached and any sources of power to the building on fire burned into his head, Zone turned around towards the way he got in, expecting to get out but instead finding 2 more soldiers behind him. 'Oh man, I took too long!' Zone's face immediately dropped, this was really going to be hard! 'I'll just have to fight me way out...oh man I'm not a fighter!' "Watts, I have a problem."

"We might have a potential problem ourselves." Watts called back "I'm sorry Zone, I don't think there is anything I can do at this point."

"I thought so...ow!" Zone cringed, holding his stomach with one hand while drawing a grenade from his inventory. He pulled the pin out with his teeth and tossed it over his shoulder towards the pair at his back. Another eruption of flames blasted outward, throwing the four soldiers out of the rising blast on to their backs a few feet away. He had been too busy watching them that he didn't notice the two in front of him until the edge of a gunblade was slashed across his stomach and the sporadic fire of another gunblade shooting the gun portion of it into his chest. Zone stumbled back. 'Damn that hurt!'

! - ! - !

"Zone's in trouble?" Nida inquired, overhearing the conversation on his own earpiece. He lead the group down a red carpeted hallway that lay directly behind the front door, becoming nervous every time he saw a dead camera hanging from the walls. There were so many doors, also making him nervous since someone could come out at any moment. "And what's the problem on your end?"

"Don't worry about him." Watts reassured, "If there's anything he's good at it's running away, and we haven't had a real problem yet... Wait, you see the door on your left?" Watts asked. Nida glanced to his left, it was the last door before the hallway opened into a large white marble furnished living room on the left side and a summarily decorated dining room on the right. Between them was a stairwell that lead to the back wall of the mansion, then spilt into two directions, left and right to some unknown places. "There is a stairwell there, you have to go down to the basement. Remember, time limit."

Nida reached out and twisted the knob on the oak door, which was locked. "Locked, your up Shadow." Nida stepped to the side, waiting as the GF once again drove a thin, black spike outward from his forehead and through the door. Drawing the sound of startled voices from the other side. "Alright guys, better get ready."

Cho glanced over to Shadow, taking the metal rod off of his back while asking "Ready?" Shadow nodded, his body fading from existence like it always had done when junctioning with the boy. "Better to catch them by surprise huh?" He narrowed his eyes impishly as he drew the rod back with both hands and thrust it into the door. It was knocked off it's broken lock from the impact and flew open, smashing in to the wall on the other side. Revealing a rather long flight of stairs surrounded by blandly panted white walls, white tiled floor and florescent lights. Also there were two blue uniformed Galbadian soldiers waiting on the other side, a set of red unformed Commanders behind them.

"We have to get rid of them quickly, we only have 10 minutes left." Nida told them, firing off the pair of guns at the front man solider on the left, one of the bullets struck the man in the shoulder, the second was blocked by his lifted gunblade. Cho held the staff under his arm, lifting the other arm towards the same solider with a fire spell. Combined with Nida's attack, the upward rush of flames were enough to take the man down, allowing the Commander behind him to take his place.

"I don't have time for this, why don't you guys just get out of my way." Seifer ran forward at the newly positioned Commander, jumping down 7 steps, landing directly before the man and slashing the Gunblade upward across his chest. With a loud grunt and a splatter of spilled blood the Commander tumbled down the stairs, easily defeated by Seifer's strength.

The second Commander took his place side by side with the solider, and with a small nod they both attacked at the same time. The solider ascended a few stairs, lifted his foot and kicked Nida directly in the stomach, forcing him to stumble back, then gave him a quick jab in the chest with the sword. A very damaging attack, drawing a surprised cry of pain from him. While that was happening the last Commander started the machine guns on his wrist and fired two trails of bullets up the stairs, targeting, and into Cho. Cho was knocked back by their force, sending his body sprawling backwards on the ground.

'Are you alright?' Shadow asked. 'That attack took a lot out of you, you should use a healing spell.'

'Yeah, I got it.'

Nida would have done just that for Cho, that was if he had a GF. So in the interest of time he attacked, firing the dual guns into the solider and striking him directly in the chest. Cho, as much as he wanted to heal himself, also in the interest of time just panted his staff on the ground and pull himself up, Jumped at the same solider directly afterwords. From the air he pulled the staff above his head with both hands clinching one edge of it tightly and thrust it down on to his head, the solider was thrown back, tumbling down the stairs out of commission. "I guess that last guy is mine." Seifer drew the blade back to his side, strafing forward down a few stairs and thrust it into Commander's stomach, then pulled it upward out of the man's body in a strong uppercut. Easily taken down by one hit from Seifer.

"Your really strong Seifer." Cho lifted his arm again, in the process of casting a spell on himself now that the battle was over. "Cure."

"Damn right."

! - ! - !

Zone fell to his knees, blood streaming down from his forehead and drizzling on to the gray concrete below him, he could see it easily now that most of the sun was over the horizon. His arms and chest were covered in open wounds from swords and bullets of soldiers. He was panting heavily, and to add insult to injury he felt a cramp forming in his stomach. "Damnit..."

Biggs, back in red Commanders uniform after seemingly being fired, kicked Zone in the back and pushed him down to the ground with his foot. "You Timber Owls have been an annoyance for way too long, you almost got me demoted again! You know how hard it was to get this job back! Now where is the kid?"

Zone laughed weakly in a mocking manner, not that he found anything particularly funny "The hell if I'm going to tell you." That only earned him a sharp pull upward by his hair from Biggs. His head was tugged off the ground roughly, just high enough for Biggs to kneel down and place his mouth by Zone's ear

"Look, my job is on the line, I'm going to get it out of you one way of another." Biggs let go of his hair and pulled him off the ground by the collar of his shirt. He motioned a few of the surrounding men towards him. "Take him inside and get an answer out of him. Any means necessary, we need to find that kid. "

Zone's eyes widened, he didn't care if they found got him now, he had to warn Watts and the others, if they got the ear piece off him they would be able to track the train. "Watts! Change the frequency now! Take them off!-- Urhgaaaa!"

! - ! - !

"Zone! Zone!" Watts shouted into the headset, pushing the mic closer to his mouth. "Can you hear me?" Watts pounded his fist down on the control panel before him tossing the headset aside. "Damn, they got Zone. Change the frequency, now!"

"But Watts, what about the SeeDs?" One of the men asked.

"They're SeeDs, they'll mange." Watts sighed.

"Wait a minute...that thing we saw on radar earlier." The same man said. "We've got ground vehicles and aircrafts coming from the west, and that call signal, it's those same people from before."

"Those guys that want to kill me?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah, they're heading for Deling. And we're right in their path."

Watts shook his head, things just weren't going his way. "Warn the SeeDs then change the frequency before Galbadia tracks it."

"Wait!" Matthew pushed himself in front of Watts, "What about Zone? He doesn't know."

"I know, but we'll have to get out of here before they spot us." Watts's hands were tied, he had to get Matthew to safety. "Head for the transcontinental tunnel, we should be out of range there."

"That's too far! How are they going to catch up with us?" Matthew cried.

"We'll figure something out, but right now we have to move."

"But Zone--"

"They know he knows where you are so they wont kill him, we'll find a way to rescue them but right now--"

Matthew pounded his head against the wall again, this was happening because of him, all of this was happening for him. "No, no no..."

! - ! - !

"What's going on?" Cho pulled the ear piece out of his ear and looked at it, he Nida and Seifer were standing in a completely white hallway under the mansion, not far from the stairs they had just descended. He had to admit that there were quite a few halls, and with no support to navigate them they were only wandering aimlessly and getting into fights. "What happened to Zone?"

"I don't know." Seifer shrugged, "But didn't you hear Watts, somethings coming. That's all he said before the damn thing cut off, somethings going on. I have a bad feeling about this one. Do you think we should pull out of this, I mean we are in dangerous territory here."

"Hmm..." Nida lifted his hand to his chin and tilted his head upward, thinking... "We still have 5 minutes, I think we can make it since we can't be that much farther." Nida looked ahead of him, the hall split into two paths. "We'll split up in to two groups, Cho and I will take the left and you and Shadow can take the right, it'll be faster."

Shadow unjunctioned himself, appearing by Seifer's side, and the two immediately ran to the right with haste. By then Cho was ahead of Nida and had taken off down the left hall...It didn't take long for him to come to the end where a door laid, a metal door that was locked. Nida, finally catching up with the boy, attempted to shoot the lock, which didn't work. "Ok...how do we open this door?" Nida asked himself.

"We don't have time to open the door." Cho shook his head, pointing to a vent above it. "I'm small enough to fit in to that vent, I can just climb through and unlock the door."

Nida thought about it for a moment...what other choice did he have? "Fine, just be careful." Nida knelt down just enough for Cho to climb on to his shoulders, then lifted the boy up to the vent's level. Cho held on to Nida's head until he found his balance, then pulled the vent's casing off and climbed inside.

! - ! - !

"Your just looking for a small metal..." Seifer paused, why explain to Shadow, just tell him to open the door. "You know what, just break the lock and I'll find it."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zone let his head drop weakly, he didn't bother to struggle, it was useless. His hands were handcuffed behind his back to a table, his back pressed against the table leg and his legs crossed on the ground before him. His arms hurt like hell, and was pretty sure that his arms being twisted behind his back made the bleeding worse. The bleeding that was making him light headed, and soaked his white clothing in red. 'Looks like they're going to let me bleed to death.'

He just closed his eyes, hoping to just sleep and ignore the pain. He was on his way...until he heard a sound. 'Huh?' Zone opened his eyes and lifted his head, though the room was dark and he could barely see anything, there were small emergency lights on the wall from when he cut the power. From the red haze he could see a small cage in front of him, a pet travel cage. 'What?'...He could see something small inside, something white... 'What is that?'

_Kewk, Keeewk... _

"A Chocobo?" Zone peered into the cage, only when the figure moved could he see the small yellow beak and the rest of it's white feathered form. It was a small white Chocobo, and it looked sad and weak. "Aww...Hey little guy..."

The Chocobo mewed and looked away from him, fear evident in the flicker of it's he saw eyes. "Hey, don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you." Zone said, maybe the blood was doing it, he probably did look a little scary right now...Zone cringed and keeled over lightly, "Owww...Cramp"

The little bird turned it's head towards him suspiciously "Kewk..."

"Heh heh, your a nice little guy aren't you?" Zone opened one eye and smiled as the pain started to fade slowly. "See, I won't hurt you." He coaxed. The little Chocobo stood up and came to the door of his cage, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Zone. Zone sighed. "They got you too huh..." Zone uncrossed his legs and stretched them outward with an idea in mind, his feet were just far enough to barely reach the sides of the cage, which he pressed between them and gently pulled the container closer to him.

The bird squawked, falling backwards from the sudden shift. Zone laughed, "Ha ha, are you alright in there little guy?" Zone inquired, shifting the cage into his lap. Now that the bird was closer he could see how bad of a shape it was in, and he was sure that one of it's wings were injured by the way it held it to it's side all the time. "Aww, they hurt you too huh. Those bastards, what could they possibly want with you. Why would anyone hurt a cute little guy like you?"

"Kewk, Kewk!" The white Chocobo seemed a little more friendly with him now, Zone didn't look so scary when he was looking down on him with those blue eyes, smiling, though it did look sad when the man winched in pain every time blood got in his eyes or he moved the wrong way. Seeing the nice man hurt made him said, he was the nicest person he'd seen since...ever.

"Ow...Don't worry about me little guy." Zone forced himself to smile again, "I'm alright now, but I might not be when those soldier guys come back."

"Kewk...Kewk..." The white Chocobo pressed his head against the cage. "Wok!" The little Chocobo jumped up as far as the cage would let him, his body started to sparkle, causing Zone's body to glow with a light green.

"Whoa! Was that a cure spell?" Zone started to feel a little better... "Your amazing little guy... you know what, I'll give you a name, better yet, I'll get you out of here. How does that sound?" The small bird squawked happily and Zone nodded "Alright little...Tire!...no that's stupid...Guy!... Wait, I got it, Hikaru, you look like a Hikaru...no I think that's taken..." Zone paused... "You know, you look like you've been down here for a while, and your probably hungry and thirsty and injured. But your still alive...I'll call you Phoenix!..." Zone leaned down closer to the cage "(Pssst, you know truth is I always wanted to all something Phoenix, we could have been the Timber Phoenixes but noooo.) Yeah, I'll call you Phoenix, Enix for short. Like that?"

The small bird let out another Kewk, another happy one. "Alright little Enix, got another one of those spells in you?" Zone asked. He was responded with another sweep of a green light over his body from Cure spell, causing Enix to pant from fatigue and lost stamina on account of injury "Thanks a lot. Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here." With enough of the pain dulled to move his arms around, Zone drew his legs up so his feet were planted on the ground and pressed his back against the table leg firmly.

Hugging the metal table's appendage with the chains of the handcuffs, Zone pushed himself up just enough to press the bottom of his head against the edge of the table and push upward. Even though the edge was digging into his head, drawing blood, the table was heavy, and his torso was throbbing from forced strain, Zone merely grimaced with a groan or two and kept forcing himself to keep pushing upward. 'Urrrggggg!' After about 30 seconds of pushing as hard as he could, he managed to lift the side of the table a few inches off the ground, just enough to drop his hands and slip the handcuff chains underneath it. Setting himself free...

Zone lost balance and fell back on to the ground, free, his hands bound behind him, but free none the less. He sat up, climbing to his feet and then turning around. "Thanks little guy, now let's see if I can..." Zone sat down, though unable to see what he was doing he felt around the cage door for the handle with his finger and shifted it around when he found it. "Locked...Hmm, There has to be a key around here somewhere." Zone stumbled on to his feet again, starting to glance around the dark, hazy red room for a key.

"Hold on Enix, there has to be a key around here somewhere." Zone walked into the darkness of the room, gaining a sad whine from Enix still in the cage. "Don't worry, I'll be right back." Zone could be heard shifting around, followed by the clack of metal falling, lots of metal falling. There was silence for a few seconds after that, and then a small laugh as the smiling, blood covered, blue eyed man came back in to view with two sets of small keys in his mouth, one smaller then the other.

Zone let himself fall on to him stomach in front of the cage door, then dropped the taller key on the ground and then tilted his head to the side. He pushed the key into the lock and turned his head back until he heard the click he was waiting for. Zone's smile grew wider as he rolled over on to his back and sat up, turning his back to open the door with his hands, releasing Enix. "See, I told you I'd get you out." Zone leaned back just enough to pick up the second key, twisting it in his fingers and attempting to place it in the small hole on the left cuff.

Enix made out off the cage with a loud chirp, happy to be out of the dark confinement...in to a dark room, but it was better then the cage. Apparently injured and barely able to walk, though the extent of the injuries were unknown, a few cure spells over time had helped a little.

He became silent when he heard the soft grunts of pain coming from a struggling Zone, then a small curse and the ching of metal falling. "Damnit!" Zone shouted, feeling around for the lost key. Enix looked at Zone's hands, he appeared to be reaching for that key that he kept missing, so Enix picked up the key with his beak and dropped it in Zone's hands. "Thanks." Zone again shifted it around into the lock and managed to twist it this time, releasing himself with a relaxed sigh. 'God that feels good...'

The first thing he did was pet Enix "Your really helpful Enix, why don't you come with me when you get out of here?" Zone smiled, rubbing his back. "How does that sound?" He gained another happy _Kewk _from the Chocobo, he also could tell which spots hurted from the responses he gained when he touched certain spots. "Great." Zone lifted his finger to his mouth "But you'll have be really quiet ok. We--"... Zone froze...he heard a loud sound coming from the walls, a thumping sound.

Even more to his surprise, Cho fell out of a vent in the ceiling with a loud clatter, landing on the ground a few feet away in the darkness. Darkness that turned into light when the lights themselves came back on, they were in a storage room. "Cho!" Zone scurried over to the fallen boy, pulling a vent cage off of him. "What are you doing here?"

"We had to split up, one of these rooms has the back up." Cho sat up, quickly pulling himself to his feet "Whoa, they really got you huh, are _you_ ok?"

"Just a flesh wound, I'm more worried about him." Zone looked back towards Enix who was scared of the new arrival, especially with such a loud entrance. "It's ok, come here..." Zone coaxed the small bird toward him, who upon seeing it was ok approached the two. "Look at him, he's hurt, you know about Chocobos, help him out."

Cho looked over the small bird. "He's in bad shape, just from here I can see that he's dehydrated and half staved, look at his feathers, they're about to fall off, his beak is starting to lose color. And look at the way he's holding his wings clutched to him, it's probably injured, and his legs too...no, the way he's walking is from sharp blows to the stomach, knowing this place it was probably being hit a lot. And look at the feathers between it's legs, it was probably being kicked there the most." Cho told him stoically.

Zone was amazed, Cho hadn't even gotten close to the bird. "You can tell all of that just by looking?"

"I know Chocobos, they don't call me Cho for nothing." Cho eased himself closer to the small Chocobo, showing that he wouldn't hurt it, rubbing under his chin with his fingers. "I can't do anything for him here, and besides, something big is happening, Watts said something was coming our way right before he cut out."

"...I told him to change the frequency when I got captured." Zone picked up Enix, holding him lightly in his arms carefully to avoid hurting the soar spot on Cho pointed out on his wing and stomach. "But he didn't say anything about something happening...Damn, this mission went bad really quickly, we're already out of time. The Cameras are back on line...Where are Nida and Seifer...and Shadow?"

"We split up...oh man! We gotta get back!" Cho immediately ran towards the door upon the sounds of his own words, if the cameras were on then they knew where everyone-- Cho was knocked back as the suddenly opened steel door slammed into his face, throwing him back on the ground with the entrance of Galbadian soldiers. At lest 10 of them poured into the room, way more then Cho could handle on his own. Before they knew it, there was a brigade of them standing near the door.

Cho crawled backwards to Zone, standing by his side while two Commanders entered the room accompanying a man. This man had a gray suit on with a white shirt and black tie, combed back black hair and a cane. He walked slowly with a limp, relying heavily on the metal cane he was using, though he moved with a haste, surprisingly fast even keeping up with the Commanders. Zone was practically radiating furry when he saw him, he knew who he was. "Vinzer Deling." He snorted. "You came all the down here to see me? I'm honored you spineless bastard."

"And who are you that has the audacity to attack _me_? " Vinzer stopped face to face with Zone, leaning forward intimidatingly and staring him in the eye, forcing Zone to draw back a little from the unexpected intrepid Deling was showing. Though Vinzer had to lean upward slightly since the limp made him shorter.

"You know me! The Timber Owls!" Zone shouted. Enix tensed, seeing Zone so angry on account of this man.

"There are so many 'resistance groups' after Galbadia, some much more important then you will ever dream of being. Why would I know some no names like you?" Vinzer stared piercingly up at Zone, who was shaking with anger. Vinzer was apparently a lot bolder now, he no longer had his guards doing things for him infact he immediately had come face to face with Zone, dangerously close.

"The hell you don't Deling! You should be dead." Zone growled.

"I don't have time for this, who ever the hell you are."

"Zone! You know my name!"

"Whatever Mr. Zone or whoever the hell you are." Vinzer said discardingly "I'll be frank, tell me where Matthew is now."

"Heh, I guess I'm pretty important to you now." Zone laughed in his face, making sure he leaned forward to emphasis himself, bringing himself less then an inch away from touching the man "I guess my name and my organization just became a lot more memorable since a dead man came all the way down here to see me. Oh and no you ass hole."

Vinzer glanced back at his men, then looked Zone strait in the eye "You have a sharp tongue for someone in your position, you should watch your mouth!" Deling punch him in the face with his right arm not holding the cane. Zone was knocked off his feet across the air, crashing into the wall a few feet away, and before they could even begin to wonder about the nature of that strength. Enix jumped out of Zone's hands and flew directly at Vinzer, driving into his forehead with his beak hard enough to make him bounce back from the force and be caught by Zone again.

"You bastard!" Zone ran at Vinzer, only to be grabbed by a few soldiers and pushed into the same wall. Cho, who tried the same thing, was thrown next to him.

Vinzer lifted his hand to his forehead and dipped his fingers in to a sticky fluid that was flowing down. He was bleeding, and quite a good amount too from Enix's attack, an injured Chocobo who got mad because Zone was hit. Vinzer pushed a man out of his way and stood face to face with Zone, who was still being held by two blue uniformed soldiers. "Where is Matthew?"

"Why do you want him?" Zone asked, still holding a tight grip around Enix just in case someone got any ideas of trying to take him. "Why are you after him?"

"It's none of your concern." Vinzer said, he paused for a moment afterwords. "I'm sure you've been also having problems with another sort of people." An interesting term he used for these people he referred too. "You know who I'm talking about, Gcom. The Galbadian Counter Offensive Movement."

"Gcom?" Zone squinted questioningly, Is that what they were called?

"Those people who want to kill Matthew, don't tell me you don't even know they're names?" Vinzer looked at a clueless Zone, he _didn't_ know "Your even more insolent then I thought, if you don't even know that then you don't have any idea what your in the middle of. At this rate you and your Timber Owls along with Matthew will end up causalities, tell me where he is."

Zone grunted from the pain in his arms and shoulders that were being held "What do you want with him?"

"To protect him! That boy is important, it's amazing that you've managed to stay alive this long... These are powerful people, they will kill all of you in including Matthew and wont stop until they do. Just let us protect the boy, I will let you go no strings attached. We can forget this little...insurrection."

"And what will happen when I do?" Zone asked suspiciously. "Your full of it Deling! I'm not stupid. There are two reasons you wouldn't let me come out of this alive, one, no one is supposed to know your alive, I do. And two, I'm the head of a Galbadian Resistance force, you know I would keep coming after you since your running a tyranny over cities like Timber!"

"Have it your way Mr. Zone." Vinzer turned around, walking away with an angry air about him and a quickness in his step as he straddled the cane in his clinched left fist and held his bleeding head with the other. "You pull something like this, defy my leadership, oppose me and your arrogant enough to attack me and think I'm going to let you get away with it. I am Vinzer Deling, and show you what it means to trifle with me. Kill both of the runts and find out Matthew's ware bouts. I want that damn kid." He called back, slamming the steel door shut behind him.

"Uh Zone, you got a plan?" Cho glanced over towards Zone, feeling a gunblade pressed to his neck. "Cause it's not looking too..." Cho's eyes shifted upward and he paused mid-sentence at a walling sound from above, then a shaking...Everything was shaking.

A blue armored soldier burst into the room, panting heavily. "We're under attack! It's Gcom!"

As soon as he got the words out the ceiling fell through, sending a wave of fire down into the storage room.


	8. Chapter 8: Getting out

Chapter 8: Getting out

Cho used the distraction to push away the 2 soldiers holding him back, Zone was able to slip out of the pile 4 men who had seized him with in the confusion as concealment. They now had a clear view of the room that was covered in large pieces of broken concrete and smashed metal all illuminated by the red haze of flames that encompassed everything. It was a good thing for them that the smoke had a way to escape or they would have suffocated by now. "Cho!" Zone pushed himself up on to his feet with Enix in an almost painfully tight grip being held with one arm, by the time he'd looked back for the boy the 4 men who held him realized that he'd gotten away from them.

Cho jumped over a long concrete pillar that separated the two of them and landed next to Zone with his rod held tightly in his hands, he hadn't let go of it even though the blue clad soliders had tried to extract it numerous times. "I'm ok, what about you?"

Zone wiped his forehead with his left arm to clear away some of the remaining blood, most of his wounds had been at lest partially closed when Enix preformed his cure spells before. "I'm fine, but neither of us will be for long if we don't get out of here." Zone hurriedly turned towards the door and nearly ran to an outstretched gunblade in the process, they had been surrounded again, 6 Galbadian solders against two.

"Stop right there!" The solider in the front called out, pushing the tip of the blade a little closer to Zone so that it was pressed against the bridge of his nose.

'Oh man, this is bad!' Zone took a small step back just to get away from the blade being pointed at his face. "Got any ideas?"

It was really unfortunate that Cho wasn't Junctioned at the moment, he wasn't strong enough to take on this number but they had no other choice...though he didn't necessarily have to fight them directly. "Just one." The brown haired boy drove the edge staff down in front of him, pushing it under the edge of another support beam that had fallen with the ceiling adjacent from the previous one. Then he pushed down on the other end of the metal staff, prying the burning concrete off the ground a few inches and then pushing it forward into a roll with one hard strike. It bowled into the 3 solders in front of them sending the men plunging to the ground and becoming trapped beneath. "Hey it worked!"

"Come on kid!" Zone grabbed Cho by the collar and charged through their clear path to the steel door at the end of the room. Cho got the hint that Zone wanted him to stop standing there and pulled his shirt free just as they got to the--Locked--door, the other 3 three remaining soldiers were still chasing them and gaining fast in the relatively small space of the room. "Damn door!" Zone took a step back then drove his shoulder into the door...though he didn't expect one hit to break it open, that much was obvious when he fell through the swiftly open door way, doping Enix and landing flat on his face. "Owww."

"Zone!" Cho jumped over the fallen man in front of him and stopped just as he landed, attempting to help him up by pulling at his arm. "Hurry up!"

Enix had landed safely on his feet next to Zone and waited worriedly by his side to see if he was alright. Though the white Chocobo was a little uneasy about the fire and bad men chasing behind them and jumped on Zone's shoulder as he was getting up, it was faster then waiting for Zone to reach down and lift him. "Kewk! Kewk!"

! - ! - !

"We have to hurry." Nida slammed the large steel door shut, separating himself, Seifer and Shadow from 5 or so Galbadian solders, or at lest that was the number the last time he counted. He was sure he'd seen other's behind them. Nida had no choice but to leave Cho behind and head down the path Seifer and Shadow had taken when Deling showed up, and he'd been able to avoid being seen. But that had only lasted so long since someone was bound to come this way eventually, now the 3 of them were pined in a room that could barely hold them let alone had enough room for a fight to take place. From what they could see the room was actually larger then it appeared, but the space was filled with endless streams of muti-colored wires coming from every direction. All of it was connected to shelves and shelves of servers, the perfect place to keep a back up.

Seifer was carrying it, a long square box like device with ports on the back and a strap on the box to hold it by. It was rather heavy. "The hell if I'm going to wait around and fight all of those guys." Seifer started, not to say he couldn't fight through all of them, by himself no less, but he didn't have that kind of time. "Shadow, your up."

"Fine." Shadow walked causally past Nida and pressed his head against the door that the boy was still holding. "Nida." His tone prompted Nida to move back, which the boy did. With Nida out of the way Shadow let his body fall through the door in a ghost like manner, causing a deep black shadow to spread out of the spot where Shadow had gone through. After only a mere second the steel structure was completely possessed, and just as he wanted the men on the other side didn't have a clue as to what was about to happen to them..

Nida glanced back at Seifer when he heard the sound of flesh being ripped and sliced through. "He couldn't have done it any less...bluntly? There is a such thing as a being inconspicuous."

"Yeah, that's spiky for you." Seifer smirked. "Alright, let's get going."

"Is it safe?" Nida watched the possessed door, unsure if it was alright to touch it while Shadow had it in that sate, for all he knew he could get sucked in.

"Yeah yeah." Seifer walked past him and pushed the door lightly, more for demonstration purposes to avoid farther skepticism, then walked into the white corridor with a little caution. It seemed like Shadow had done a his job, the path was empty except for the blood splattered across the walls plastering small pieces of blue fabric and traces of metal. "Working out frustrations Shadow?"

Shadow jumped out of the door, letting it return to it's normal color, and landed next to Seifer. He was about to reply to Seifer's remark with one of his own but something else caught his attention, a scent he knew well. "Cho."

Nida quickened his pace toward the end of the corridor where the two separate paths convened. "What? Where?" In his haste he nearly ran into Zone at the intersection, Cho trailing behind. "Zone, Cho! What happened, are you two alright?"

"No time for that." Zone declined. "We have to get out of here now, this place is under attack."

"Attack?" Nida ran after Zone who hadn't stopped at all while speaking, Cho had taken that time to rejunction with Shadow. "What do you mean attack? And what's with the bird?"

"I'll explain later, we just need to get out of here." Zone headed the group as they came to the stairway leading out of the basement and up the first floor. They were forced to stop when the ground started to shake violently, it came with a loud explosion and a rush of smoke being forced out of the ceiling from above. "What the hell are they doing up there?"

"Don't ask questions just move!" Seifer nearly pushed Zone out of the way but he thought better of it and instead he pushed Zone forward in a prompting manner. When he usually would have complained he kept running on to the half ruined floor littered with smashed concrete and furnishing, but still leavening a clear path to the front door.

Zone pushed the wooden doors open to the court yard...

He froze "Whoa!" he found himself looking upon a small war, men in green jumpsuits were all blended into a mix of a overwhelmingly larger number red and blue Galbadian uniformed solders. Aircrafts screech overhead, explosions tore across the ground, gunfire, roars of machinery, all of it was a surprise. "We are _never_ going to make it out of the gate."

"Come on!" Cho ran in front and pulled Zone sharply to the left, around toward the side of the building while staying as close to the wall as possible, no one really noticed them with good reason. "We can use this car." Cho had remembered seeing a Galbadian assault vehicle around here next to some crates when Zone had been creating a distraction for them, and to his luck when he came to the location it was still there.

Seifer ran to the driver's side, his eye constantly on the Glatting gun mounted atop the roof which was making him more uneasy then the battle around them. "The damn thing is locked."

"Well duh!" Cho pushed Seifer out of the way and knelt beside the lock on the door, "Cover me, I'll have to pick the lock and it might take a few minutes."

"Just be quick.." Seifer took position at the back of the vehicle while Nida readied himself on the side opposite of Cho, a very unsure Zone settled himself somewhere in-between with no other choice. He obviously wasn't a fighter, he didn't even have explosives he had with him the first time, but he'd do what he could, he had to.

"Alright Enix, go over by Cho, it's safe over there." Zone coaxed the small bird on his shoulder, he was amazed at how he stayed up there after all of the running and sudden sharp movements. Zone waited a few seconds but Enix didn't move in inch, he just stared at him. "Enix...go."

Enix only shook his head "Kewk Kewk!" The bird only stared at him, unwilling to leave the nice man he'd just met. Enix wasn't so sure what was going on around here and it made him want to run and hide, but if it meant leaving the nice man alone, the nice _injured_ man who could die... "Kewk..." Enix jumped off of Zone's shoulder and dived at an approaching Solider with one wing out stretched and crashed beak first into the blue uniformed Galbadian. He'd hit the man hard enough to make him stumble back a few steps and hold his now bleeding head.

Seifer attacked before the same solider could regain his footing, slashing the gunblade across his chest and finishing him with one hit. He wanted to ask about the bird but he knew now wasn't the time. "You notice something about this whole thing?" He glanced at Nida who he was directing the question towards.

Nida nodded, firing both guns at some one still far off. "I can't tell if they're fighting each other or fighting ever who get's us. Either way it's good for us."

Zone knelt down with his hands out, catching Enix as the bird ran back to him. "Your a really strong little guy." Zone praised, lifting the small bird up on to his shoulder again. "I'll let you help out a _little_ but don't over do it, " Zone warned. He got an agreeable response from the bird who turned away from Zone and faced forward with a small jump, then lifted his right wing sparkling with small white flashes that signified a charging a spell. Fire was cast on the closest person approaching, causing a green clothed Gcom member to go up in flames. 'This bird is amazing!'

"I'm in." Cho pulled open the door he'd been working on and dived onto the driver's seat, pushing his head bellow the steering wheel. Of course he remembered how to hotwire a car, and Nida said that kind of skill wouldn't come in handy. "Seifer your driving right? Come on." His words were emphasized by the roar of an engine starting, he could hotwire a car much easier then he could unlock one. That was followed by a shuffle of light confusion as they entered the vehicle, Cho and Zone in the back while Nida took the passenger seat and Seifer the driver.

"I don't know weather to be impressed or horrified." Nida let out a deep sigh as Seifer revered and plowed through anyone or anything close to them.

"Nida, you see that gun on the roof?" Seifer asked, pointing to a small throttle in front of Nida's seat, "Your going to have to clear the way."

"Alright." Nida took hold of the throttle and trigger without hesitation, taking a few seconds to see how worked then afterwords it was easy for him. He was always a fast learner with these types of things, with a quick look at his ammunition count displayed on a gauge he opened fire on anything he saw fit as a threat. It was working, Seifer had turned around and made it to the closed front gate without incident.

"That's a pretty strong gate, this might be a problem." Seifer had seen first hand a number of times exactly how strong the gate could be, trying to smash through it head on wasn't a good idea.

"But the hinges aren't." Nida adjusted his aim toward the side of one of the gates, comparing the gate now from when they had entered he noticed that the hinges were only visible when the gate was completely closed, a link between the gate and the mechanizes that opened and closed it. Nida shot both of them off, allowing the Galbadian Assault vehicle to easily plow threw the steel barrier and head on to the streets of Deling.

"Ok." Seifer immediately looked back at Zone, "What the hell is going on with Watts?"

"Shouldn't you be watching the road."

"Don't worry about my driving, what the hell is going on around here?"

Zone looked down a Enix, now settled in his hands comfortably, he couldn't help but smile at how this small Chocobo (who didn't look like he was more then a baby) took to him so quickly. Even after spending who knows how long in the 'care' of Galbadia and ending up have starved, dehydrated and abused, which would have been more then enough to turn anything away from humans. Enix was probably missing his mother too, it's amazing that Enix could trust a human, let alone someone as bruised and bloody as Zone had been...still was. He must have looked pretty scary right now. "I got captured, when they found my earpiece they could have easily tracked the train and found Matthew. On top of that Watts had something on radar coming strait towards Deling, and as you saw back there it was those guys from before ."

"So where is the train now?"

"I don't know, but Watts would be someplace where radar couldn't pick up the train...Like underground or a tunnel or somewhere the reception is back." Zone paused and thought about his own words. "Hey that's it! There's a tunnel about a mille away from Deling, it's a new railroad track under construction and it's not finished yet, that's the perfect place...That's if we can make it out of here alive."

"He's got a point, Galbadian guys are all over the place." Cho said. "We'll never make it, they're probably setting up a road block right now."

"I'm surprised that none of you have any confidence in me."

! - ! - !

"Nice to finally meet you." Zell shook a very polite Alex's hand, standing in the main hall right in front of the training center. Carbuncle was mounted on his left shoulder, and only someone as agile as the small GF could stay on such a small surface easily. "You guys really must have been working hard, you both are all sweaty."

Alex smiled and gently wiped away the sweat visibly streaming down his forehead "Yeah, Carbuncle's really strong." He complemented, Alex had even had time to junction with him while they were in the training center. It was just really unfortunate that Alex hadn't had any magic to junction to his stats, it would have really helped when he came against that T-Rexaur...

"I know, I know." Carbuncle bowed his head in mocking arrogance, looking away in a small bit of embarrassment. "I am great aren't I?"

Alex looked away, just barely holding in a smile caused by Carbuncle's words and body expression. "Aww Shut up. You are so full of yourself to be somebody so little."

"Nope! Technically I'm not full of my self if I'm telling the truth." Carbuncle said with a impish smirk and his head tilled upward haughtily. "And I'm not _that_ small. I can still grow bigger."

"Stop being so conceded!" Alex yelled fiercely, but with small playful undertones. "And there is no way your going to get any bigger. If you grow any more, I'll eat a Grat."

Carbuncle rammed his head into Alex's cheek and looked him in the eye, partly to make himself look more intimidating. "Is that a challenge?"

Alex lifted his fist and growled at the GF on his shoulder "Yeah! It is! All the milk and vegetables in the world won't help you."

Zell rubbed the back of his head nervously, it was actually kinda funny when he thought about it. "You two act like brothers." He laughed, "Me and Bahamut are going to get Squall and go looking for that thing...whatever it was, from last night." Bahamut was junctioned to him right now. "Maybe I can catch up with you guys later, we can go to the cafeteria and get some food." His eyes glanced down at his stomach when he spoke of the cafeteria, "I'm starving, I can really go for some hotdogs."

"I can't believe you guys actually saw the monster! I thought it was just it was a legend." Alex ran over to Zell excitedly, looking up at him with his mind racing with a thousand things to say and ask. "Your going to look for it? Can I come with you guys?" He asked anxiously, he had to refrain from jumping up and down.

Zell shrugged "Sure, we can use more people I guess."

"But wait..." Alex paused, stifling his excitement for the moment and looking over at Carbuncle "I thought it only came out at night. Isn't that when you guys saw it? I mean that's what I've been hearing all this time."

Silence.

Carbuncle agreed "He has a point. There are a lot of people around this place in the daytime, somebody would have seen it by now."

"...Your right." Zell nodded "We'll just have to wait until tonight."

Alex's excitement started growing again "A stake out! Cool! Does that mean I don't have to go to class?"...Carbuncle and Alex both looked up at Zell pleadingly, Alex knew that Zell was a high level SeeD so if anyone could excuse him from class he could.

'They are like brothers, they argue like brothers, they even tune into each like brothers...'Zell tilted his head upward and thought about it for a moment.

'Isn't that a good thing?' Bahamut asked. 'He's not depressed anymore.'

'Yeah your right.' Zell nodded "Aw hell, why not?"

"Yesss!"

! - ! - !

"Seifer your insane!" Nida clinched his pounding chest, panting heavily from an over load of fear. "You can't just jump over buildings like that! You could have gotten us killed!"

"I got us here did I?" Seifer snorted, driving the car over the railing separating the train station walk way from the 3 foot drop to the train tracks. There were 4 tracks and only one held a train, the far left one a good distance from them. The SUV's wheels just barely fit on the outside of the railings, causing some sparks to fly on account of friction as well as a bumpy road because of the wooden plates under the metal rails. This was the only exit that lead out side of the town that wasn't blocked by Galbadian solders, they didn't bother too since there were no outgoing or incoming trains coming in right now. How could they possibly get out this way?...If that's what they thought then they didn't know Seifer very well. "Stop complaining."

"Next time, I'm driving." Nida told him bluntly, to be blunt Seifer drove like a maniac. Nida had to admit he did take the fastest routes, even when the route wasn't a road, or even on the ground, he did always get them there in one piece. Nida was just afraid that Seifer's luck would run out and they would all end up running head first into a wall.

Seifer laughed at him, there was no way in hell that was happening. "Good luck."

"I _am_ in charge." Nida reminded him.

Seifer didn't seem to be listening, he just waved Nida off discardingly. "Yeah Yeah."

"Hey guys!" Cho leaned in between the driver and passenger seat, pointing ahead. "We have bigger problems! Look!" What Cho was referring too was what was happening right in front of them. Their clear unobstructed path to the outside was being sealed off, at the very end of the train terminal a large metal gate was closing, a very large metal gate.

"Damnit!" Seifer veered sharply to the left and slammed on the breaks, forcing the front wheels to jump over a railing and the car to turn sideways, bringing them to a complete stop. He could only watch helplessly as the closed gate shut in front of them, a gate they would have had no chance of making it through if Seifer hadn't stopped. "Well o'fearless leader, what do we do now?"

"We get that gate open." Nida opened the door and climbed out of the large vehicle on to the uneven surface of the railroad tracks "Everybody out, we have to find away to do this right now, before Galbadia catches up."

Cho followed Zone out of the back seat into the large terminal, and with a little hint from Shadow, he spotted something that might help their current situation. "Nida, up there." He pointed to the left side of the gate about 15 feet above the ground where an out laying room settled on a platform mounted to the wall, a ladder was posted on the same wall that lead to it. "Maybe that's it--"

He stopped when the door he was indicating opened up and a man jumped down the 15 feet between the platform and the tracks. This man was wearing a green jumpsuit with the words Gcom printed on the left leg, he also was equipped with a helmet with a headset attached that he took off and tossed carelessly aside. With his face now exposed they could see that he was a bald man with green eyes and a strong jaw line, he seemed to be about 29. "Stop right there!"

"Gcom?" Cho looked over him questioningly, "He looks like that same guy who attacked us on the train...Hey! That _is_ the same guy who attack us on the train!" Cho was referring to the beginning of their mission when they had been escorting Matthew to Timber, and when it when horribly wrong. That man had been the first person who attack them and the only one of the attacking party to make it out alive. "Aren't you trying to kill us? Why would we listen to you?" Cho said with laugh.

"We don't have time for this." Nida brushed past the green uniformed man and headed for the ladder laying against the wall just beside the large metal gate that sealed them in. "Cho come with me, Seifer, take care of this guy."

"Right." With a nod Cho ran past the same man and followed Nida who was already half way up the ladder.

After watching Nida and Cho for a moment to make sure they reached the ladder's peek safely, Seifer turned to Zone with a question burning in his head "What's with the bird?"

"I'll explain later."

The Gcom mercenary growled in annoyment, they weren't even paying attention to him! "Don't write me off like I'm some cheep Galbadian solider." He shouted, lifting his fist at Seifer and Zone with clinched fist.

Seifer rolled his eyes, this man was really anxious to get in to a fight with them "Your alone and unarmed, we're not really worried about you."

"I'll just show you my strength then..." The man lifted one arm and outstretched it toward them, his body began to glow lightly from a charging spell. "Sleep!"

"Hey wait? How is this guy using magic?" Seifer looked over there enemy carefully, he didn't quite get it.

"Machinery and Equipment can sometimes hold Ether abilities and allow users to use spells." Zone lifted his hand to his chin and thought about Seifer's question for a moment, Enix tried to make the same gesture. "But this guy doesn't have anything on him, he must be Junctioning."

"Hmm..." Now Seifer seemed interested, he even bothered to lift his gunblade in a ready stance. Which was more then he was doing before. "He might be a problem...hey wait, what happened to that spell?"...Both of them had been too busy trying to figure out why this man was able to use magic, they had forgotten that he even cast a spell, a spell that didn't seem to take effect.

Zone and Seifer looked back towards him and found that he was falling asleep from his own spell. "What? Why would he cast a sleep spell on himself?" Zone quickly got confused trying to figure it out..."Huh?" His question was answered when he heard a strange sound coming from the man's body...the man's growing body.

The Mercenary began to bulk up, his muscles expanding and growing, stretching his body outward enough to quickly rip through his clothing. His skin pale skin turned blue, his closed eyes shot open now glowing red, his fingers sharpened into bulky claws, and horns stretched out of his head. By the time the whole transformation was finished he didn't look remotely human, completely a monster. His body was Wendigo like, only he stood strait and he was larger, much larger.

"What the hell!" Seifer took a step back with obvious shock, "Is that what kinda sleep spell was that!" He didn't have time to think about it too much, The mercenary ran at him, the ground shaking in his wake, and drove a punch down on his head. Seifer jumped back, watching the large fist cause an imprint to form in the hard concrete, even then the earthquake caused by the impact made the ground shake. Seifer caught himself as the mercenary stood upright, just in time to create in opening that Seifer took advantage of. He closed the small gap between them with a few steps, then lifted his gunblade just above his left shoulder and slashed the mercenary across the wide torso.

The Mercenary stepped back with a monstrous growl, blood was drawn from Seifer's attack. He countered by clinching his fist together and swinging them into the side of Seifer's head, throwing him aside into the small 5 foot wall that the side walk was on top of. "Damn that thing hits hard...Zone, move!"

Zone ran forward, ducking just enough to avoid the Mercenary's cuffed fist hammering down on to him. Nearly falling from the resulting quake, Zone ran past the monster's side enough to get behind his much slower attacker "How the hell am I suppose to fight this-!-Enix!" Zone reached out and tried to catch the white Chocobo who jumped off his shoulder and dived beak first into the back of the mercenary's enlarged transformed head with as much forced as he could gather. It was enough to create a bruise and cause the monster to howl, not as weak an attack as Zone expected it to be... "Enix." Zone reached out and caught Enix as he was falling back "You can't keep doing that, it's dangerous and your hurt as it is."

Enix squawked and jumped a little "Kewk Kewk!" It looked like the bird really wanted to help, he really wanted to show Zone he could help.

"..." Zone quickly backed away when the transformed Mercenary turned around to face him, luckily Seifer came to his rescue, slashing the monster across it's back with his gunblade. The giant winced visibly from the attack, but kept walking towards Zone, who when trying to escape found his back against the gate. "Damnit!" He crouched down and darted forward just as the mercenary threw a punch at his head, the mercenary's attack instead hit the steel barrier hard enough to cause a dent in the structure.

"Kewk Kewk!" Enix, with a tight grip on Zone's shoulder so he didn't fall, lifted his sparkling left wing and flapped it toward the monster. A freezing bolder formed above the mercenary from an Ice spell, then dropped, smashing into it's head and shattering in a freezing rain of ice shards. The bruise from Enix's previous attack started to bleed from the hard blow.

! - ! - !

"Nida hurry, we have to get down there." Cho prompted, watching Zone and Seifer fight against the monster from the door's window.

"I'm trying." Nida was typing furiously at the control panel that controlled the gate as well as a few other mechanisms like track courses and cameras in the terminal. "Something's wrong with the automatic controls." Nida was good at figuring out theses types of things, especially computerized devices like this. The gate should have already been open, but something wasn't working right, instead of opening up like it should have the only thing he got was a red light. "Something manual must be wrong."

Nida knelt down to the base of the node as he retrieved a small screwdriver from his pocket, he used it to open up a small panel that revealed the internal components. Cho looked over his shoulder with light interest, unable to figure out what Nida could be looking for in the sea of wires... "I see it, a few of the cables came loose." Nida pushed his hand in side of the control panel's frame and tried to reach something in the back, what ever it was he couldn't seem to get to it. "Cho, I'm going to need your help."

! - ! - !

The mercenary let out a brute grunt as he clinched his inhumanly large hand around Seifer's torso and lifted him easily off of the ground. "Ahaaaa!" A cry of pain was forced out of him when the monster began applying pressure, squeezing as tightly enough to choke. It was much tighter then Seifer had expected, a rush of blood was forced up his throat and expelled from his mouth with a cough. He scowled inwardly when he dropped his sword as a result, but he had to free himself, and the only other means where by magic. "Flare!" With the call of his voice a strong forced rushed out between himself and the oversized mercenary, exploding outward in a rush of red energy. Seifer was blowout of the hand that held him, not to mention the mercenary lost a few fingers.

The Wendigo like monster cried out with a horrible screech, stumbling backwards into the gate as blood streamed out of the wound. The pain sent the Mercenary into a blind fury, enough damage had been inflicted to cause the blue skin to shift into a deep red from the berserker effect. It charged furiously at Seifer and Zone, pushing himself off of the gate just as it started to open...

With a quaking roar the Mercenary lifted both of it's fist, ready to pound down on the closest person, which happened to be Zone. When an even louder, repetitious roar of heavy gunfire overpowered it. Nida was controlling the Glatting gun mounted on the roof of the Galbadian assault vehicle, firing a torrent of bullets into the monster's body. It sent the Mercenary sprawling down the ground, weakened and defeated he had no choice but to revert back into his human form.

"Hey, he's still wearing pants." Cho stood over the fallen man, noticing that he was still wearing a pair of blue, rather tight pants even though his clothing had been ripped off when he transformed. "How?"

"Well..." Nida knelt down next to the defeated Gcom mercenary, checking him over... "I noticed that the lower half of his body was a slightly different shade then his upper, he must have been wearing these for when he changed back...How can fabric so small stretch so much? Strange." Upon checking the shards of the man's clothing he found something, an ID card on a chain baring the name and information of the man as well as a barcode along the side. "This guy's name is Erick, Hmm, doesn't look like an Erick."

It seem like they had other things to worry about..."Uh guys!" Cho called. "Hello, Galbadian territory! Let's go."

Nida stood up, leaving the man there as he returned to the front seat of the SUV they were using to escape. With everyone inside, Seifer took off with his usual way of driving. As soon as they were out of the terminal Seifer got off of the railroad tracks and asked Zone for directions for the Tunnel he spoke of before.

! - ! - !  
! - ! - !

"Zone!" Matthew ran up to Zone as soon as he walked into the door, the small boy hugging him lightly. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm alright." Zone patted the boy on the head and then pushed him back a little. "Don't worry about me."

"Sir!" Watts opened the door from the next car that held the control room. "Your all right!"

"I'm good, I'm good." Zone nodded, "Cho."

Cho walked into the train from the dark tunnel they currently resided in, their was a rather steep down hill slope to the tunnel, it was noticeable inside the train two since no surface was particularly level anymore. "Huh?"

"Enix is looking pretty bad." He said worriedly, handing him the sleeping baby Chocobo. "Can you help him?"

Cho gently held the white Chocobo in his arms, taking a good look at him. Being Chocoboy he was an expert in dealing with the birds. "I can do a little. He's going to need to eat something, something that will help him heal like Kupo nuts and Memit greens, some water too. Preferably Yellow potion."

"Yellow potion?"

"Yeah, it's a special potion for Chocobos." Cho rolled the sleeping Enix on to his back and gently rubbed his chest "If he gets some Yellow potions then we can skip some of the healing time, since he's really strong."

"So he's going to be ok?" Zone asked hopefully.

Cho nodded "He'll be fine, I just to find that stuff for him. Let him sleep for a while."

"I'll do it!" Zone impatiently turned around and ran toward the door, determined to gather up the things Cho had just listed. If he did that he could undo at lest some of what happened to Enix when he was in Deling.

"Uh sir, that's not a good Idea." Watts pushed Zone back away from the door, "Your all beat up, your too injured to do anything." He protested "Get your rest, Cho will handle it."

Cho agreed "I'll do it. He's right, you don't even know where to find this stuff."

Cho was right, Zone didn't have any idea of where he was headed off to when he went for the door, he had just wanted to help... The man sighed, running a hand through the stray blue strands of hair. "Yeah I guess, I'm gonna go take a shower or something. See if you can get anything out of that back up."

"Alright..." Watts took a quick look around. "Where is it?"

Cho walked over to the door and peeked his head out, looking around the dark tunnel for any signs of Seifer or Nida. Seifer was loading the Galbadian vehicle into one of the cars near the back of the train, apparently they thought it was a good idea to keep it. "Nida! Seifer! Come on, hurry up already!"

! - ! - !

"I don't know about this." Squall leaned back lightly in his chair, sitting at his desk. Zell stood before him with Alex by his side and Carbuncle on the boy's shoulder. "What's the point of bringing him along?"

"More people couldn't hurt." Zell said. "More eyes, more chances we'll see it right?"

Squall didn't think about it to much, Zell was probably right. "Fine."

! - ! - !


	9. Chapter 9: Night Fall

Chapter 9: Night fall.

9:30 pm

It had taken a while for everything to come together, to wait until Galbadia gave up looking in this area, and until Cho returned from his searching to find ingredients. It was already starting to get late by the time the highly disorganized group finally came together. All of them reconvened in the control room with the other members of the Timber Owls, but where were they suppose to start?

"Ok, this is what I don't get." Seifer announced bluntly, he leaned against the door way with his same generally bored expression he always carried. "Whoever those other people where in the crappy green jumpsuits, why bother attacking one of Galbadia's most controlled cities with a group that small? I mean come _on_, 2 planes and a couple ground units? It took like 5 minuets to take them out."

"_Those people_ are called Gcom." Zone explained, he sat against the wall with his hands in his lap, he held an inconspicuous nervousness in his form. It was visible in the way his fingers twitched and played with each other, the way his eyes moved around in the darkness, the way his left foot shifted around lightly. "I guess they're a big Galbadian resistance group that really makes Deling nervous."

"That attack was more out of desperation then strategy." Watts said, he stood beside Zone casually, a thoughtful expression on his downcast face shrouded by his hat, an expression that showed every time he was attempting to work something out. "They want Matthew dead, we know that much from the first time they went after him on the train to Dollet. They must have found out we were heading for Deling and into the strongest point of Galbadian territory, so they must have assumed Matthew was going with us and sent the fastest thing they could in an attempt to take him out before Galbadia got him."

"So what did we go through all that trouble to get?" Cho sat on the ground, his back against the side of a chair residing in the center of the large mainframe terminal, the center piece of the room, where Nida was sitting.

"Yeah." Seifer reached over Nida's shoulder and picked up the large drive, it was heavy, and large and he looked over every side of it curiously... Seifer ran his fingers over the pins on the back, they were either a plug or a port. "What is it suppose to tell us?"

Nida held out his hand and Seifer handed it back to him. "That's what I'm gonna try and find out." He set it back down, holding the large box steady as he he pushed a connector onto the pins in the back and then another smaller one onto another set of pins that served as a receptor for a power supply. There was silence about the room as he pushed the backup drive aside and began typing codes and commands into a command prompt shell. "Hmm..."

Cho recognized that sound, and it wasn't the interested inquisitive air that usually came with that utterance. "What's wrong?"

"It's encrypted."

"Figures." Zone sighed, he knew this wouldn't be simple. He climbed to his feet, bending as little as possible in an attempt to keep from aggravating the shallow wounds now cleaned, bandaged and medicated. With all the potions taking effect he'd be healed by tomorrow morning, and he was looking forward to it. "So how long do you think it's gonna take to get past it?"

"I don't know." Nida shrugged. "But it's probably gonna take a while."

"Aw well..." Zone headed towards the door with a yawn. "If theres nothing I can do then theres no use sitting around here." He left out of the room, thinking about what had preoccupied his thoughts for the better part of the day, Enix. He was obviously worried about the bird and thinking of what could be done for him '?' Zone stopped, pausing in front of Matthew who'd been waiting outside in the hallway. "Matthew?"

Matthew glared up at Zone with a hard look and every bit of anger his age could produce. "..."

"What's with you?" Zone asked, he didn't have the slightest clue as to the nature of this new anger. Even he could see it on Matthew's face.

Matthew shifted his eyes away, staring intensely at the wall for a moment. Then after only a few seconds of silence he snapped "What's wrong with _me_?" Matthew had been attempting to be silent and not say anything provoking, considering Zone's state and his strong sense of worry for the older man. But his will wasn't nearly strong enough, he was much to angry. "Your what's wrong with _me_! You should have let me go! That's what's wrong with me!"

"I already told you it was too dangerous." Zone stated.

"_Everything's_ too dangerous with you!" Matthew shot back. "I could have helped! If I would have been there then you wouldn't have ended up like this. You almost..." Matthew's voice trailed off mid sentence, leaving him staring up at Zone with the passion of fury still burning in his eyes with no words, he couldn't say anything... he just couldn't.

"What!" Zone shouted with his own anger flowing freely as it always did. After Matthew didn't respond his fury was dulled, ebbed away by confusion "What?"

'Zone...' Matthew dropped his head and looked down at the ground with that same anger still showing in every motion, tensing of his body. Finally he just walked past Zone, disappearing into the darkness of the hall towards his room in silence.

Zone was really lost now, he'd never seen Matthew just walk away in the middle of an argument like that."What was that?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Squall groaned in frustration, rubbing his temples with the beginnings of a headache forming. It was around this time that the Garden began emptying out and closing down for the night, and when they started this simple plan to stake out all night and watch the Garden. It hadn't been long into it and Squall was already starting to get annoyed.

Alex had some how gotten a hold of the coffee Squall was reserving for himself later into the night. And he shared said coffee with Carbuncle. So on top of being bored with the fact that a stake out entitled nothing more then sitting around for long periods of time and being forced to pay attention for every second of it. The two became hyper and possibly only mere moments from attempting to bounce off of the walls.

Right now Carbuncle was setting up a series of barriers and Alex was attempting to break through them, by any means he could. "Just give up." Carbuncle sat down with a mocking laziness, wordlessly taunting that he'd get nowhere with his attempts, peaking one eye open and glancing up at the boy. A slightly visible green tinted barrier was sitting in front of him, just waiting to be shattered.

"Think so huh?" Alex took a few steps backwards, moving in the space behind the sofa and the wall holding the bed room door. "I'll show you!" He shouted, taking one last step for space before charging forward as fast as he could through the short gap and then ramming his shoulder into the green barrier. He bounced off painfully and crashed to the floor with a loud clutter.

Thus was Squall's annoyment. Zell how ever seemed to take amusement in the display and blatantly laughed at Alex. The other boy leaned on the counter in the small kitchenette, watching the two intently. "Man, that never gets old."

Alex climbed to his feet and rubbed his shoulder while Carbuncle just watched him with the same mocking expression, he couldn't bring himself to laugh at his friend. But taunting was completely acceptable. "It's not gonna work, this one is stronger then the other one."

Alex ran a hand through his short, spiky white hair and took a few more steps backwards. "I'm gonna break through it!" The blue eyes narrowed as the boy determinedly ran head strong at the gap, grunting loudly as he thrust his foot into the center with all of his strength. The kick slammed in to the green barrier and sunk into it slightly, causing an imprint and streaking cracks streaking out from all sides. "Hey!" He smiled brightly at his accomplishment and began slamming his fist into the shield, pounding with a fury of punches until his arm broke through and it shattered around him. "Heh heh! I told you I would!"

Carbuncle lifted his head and looked at Alex with out belief, then the green eyes illuminated and the small GF smirked with a half smile. "That was pretty good, I didn't think you could get through one that strong."

"Be persistent-" Alex lifted his head proudly. "And you'll always succeed."

Carbuncle walked past the boy and sprang up on to the kitchen counter with a cat like agility. "That is so rehearsed, sounds like a book." A few days ago Carbuncle wasn't even sure what a book was, but he junctioned himself to Alex during some of the boy's classes and learned what he could, and he learned fairly quickly.

"No, my father taught me that." Alex rubbed his hands soothingly, noting how trying to beak through Carbuncle's shield was almost like hitting a brick wall over and over. 'Ow...' He leaned on the side of the counter opposite of Zell, folding his arms on the surface and laying his head down, fixing his eyes on the GF and the older boy. "You know, I've been wondering. What kind of GF are you anyway?"

Carbuncle looked up at the ceiling, a lost expression coming on to his face. "Uh." finally giving up on the futility of attempting to remember, Carbuncle looked up at Zell. "I don't know, Zell?"

Zell shrugged, "You never told me..."

"What are you, a rabbit, or a rodent or something like that?" Alex reasoned.

"Damn...I don't even know what I am." Carbuncle sighed, thinking about it was still really depressing for him.

"Aw, your not gonna start getting all depressed on me now are you?" Alex asked, hoping that he didn't make Carbuncle think enough to become sad over his current state. He'd seen Carbuncle sad, and when he was sad it made him sad too, it was enough to make him hate empathy.

"Naw, I'm over that." Carbuncle waved his paw discardingly. "It happened, what am I gonna do about it now."

"Well...do you know how old you are?" Alex asked.

Carbuncle inanely looked up to Zell. "Around 400." Zell said plainly.

Alex's expression grew with amazement. "Wow, that is so cool. You look like..6 or something."

"6!" Carbuncle growled, he leaned forward toward Alex angrily. "I look a hell of a lot older then 6!"

"You sure act like it." Alex rolled his eyes. "How can someone so short and fuzzy talk so big, your like a stuffed animal!"

"Who are you calling a stuffed animal." Carbuncle paused mid growl and his fierce expression dropped momentarily. "Uh..what's a stuffed animal?" He didn't know what it was but he was sure it wasn't good.

The door opened, and Ifrit walked through with steps unexpectantly light for his large size. He had been gone for a hour, repeatedly looking over every reachable inch of the building for any sign of anything out of place. More specifically any lose monsters. "There's been nothing so far." He announced before rejunctioning himself to Squall.

"Hmm..." Alex pushed himself off of the counter and stretched his arms above his head. "I guess it's my turn. Carbuncle, wanna come?"

"Sure."

Zell watched Carbuncle jump onto Alex's shoulder and the pair left the room with slight confusion. 'Weren't they just arguing?'... It was only when he began thinking and got no response that he realize something. 'Hey...Bahamut's gone...he must have gotten bored and went to look around or something.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Zone rested on one knee, his hands gripping the edge of the steel table in an attempt to relinquish the nervous energy coursing through his body. He watched as Cho examined Enix fully for the first time, and he'd never thought he'd admit this but he didn't think he'd want his new friend's life an any other one's hands. As much as he despised the boy for grifting him out of all of his money the last time they met and for making fun of him for it the second time they met.

As much as that burned with a fair amount of resentment and annoyment in his mind, he trusted Cho more then ever. Whenever the boy was dealing with injured Chocobos a detectable amount of heart could be seen being put into what he did, an uncharacteristic amount of care showing in every movement of body. He showed that side of him that connected with the birds, the part of him that loved to visualize and could see the appeal in of simple sights and surrounds.

"Well..." Cho placed his hand under Enix who lay sleeping on his back atop the steel table centered in the strategy room that felt almost like a basement. "He's got a few pretty bad injuries. His left wing was broken recently, it hasn't healed correctly, you can tell by how he's always holding it." Cho gently rolled Enix on to his chest, burying his fingers into the young white feathers under his stomach. "And he's got some pretty bad half healed cuts hidden under here, some bruises too. Looks like he got a few too many hard kicks."

"Those bastards." Zone growled angrily, "I can't believe those sons of bitches could do this to him."

"...Well, his stomach shrunk and his feathers are rough and kinda matted. He's pretty dehydrated, Hyne, they barely fed him. I surprised he managed to do all he did half starved, he's probably really weak."

"He must be hungry." Zone sighed. "I'll-"

"No, don't." Cho shook his head. "You can't feed him just any food after a starvation diet no mater how hungry he is."

"Why?"

'It'll cause a lot of damage on his stomach, he'll be in more pain then it's worth...trust me."

'How would you know?' Zone began to wonder how did he know so much about this. "So what should I do?"

Cho laid Enix back down, watching the sleeping bird resettle into a conformable position. He began digging around in his inventory, looking for something... 'Here it is.' He retrieved a roll of bandages that had been down pretty deep, and started unraveling them until he had about 12 inches worth and tore the section off. "Feed him soft foods for a while."

Zone nodded in understanding, watching Cho began to rip off the bandage into smaller strips that would be better suited for Enix's body. "Ok...Uh...what are soft foods?"

"You gotta be kidding me." Cho wiped a small amount of antiseptic on one half of each bandage before he wrapped them over a specific area, Enix visibly shifted around from the stinging it caused, but he didn't when. "You know, stuff thats really easy on his stomach." Cho carefully wrapped a bandage over Enix's left wing, considerably tighter then other places. He took extra time there, making sure every thing was perfectly set, feeling over the wing with soft pressure to make sure he was doing everything right according to that specific injury before daring to move on.

"Yeah, ok." Zone never would have guessed he'd see that level of seriousness and dedication to a task from Cho. He was starting to realize how he'd become a SeeD in the first place. "Poor Enix, no wonder he's so nervous around humans."

"He's not nervous around you." Cho finished with the last bandage and laid the small bird back down on the table, Enix must have been really tired to sleep through all of that. "Here, give him as much of this as he wants when he wakes up." Cho picked up the yellow potion he'd finished some odd hours ago and tossed it to Zone.

He nearly dropped it, the bottle fumbled around on his hands until he could get a firm grasp around it, unexpectant of the sudden object being thrown at him. "Yeah, thanks."

"Don't mention it."

"...Hey. " Zone wrapped is arms around Enix and scooped him off the table, wondering where he'd sleep. "How do you know so much about all of this stuff?"

"I grew up..." Cho looked at Zone for a moment and just shrugged, he was too tired to go into it. "Never mind."

! - ! - !

"Damn..." Seifer stared angrily in front of himself, one hand resting on his growling stomach as he opened the train's side door and reentered the halted transport. It was humid and hot in the tunnel, and it was cool and dry inside of the train, but he didn't mind the uncomfortable conditions of the unfinished tunnel and the fields out side of it so much. Something about being in the train for long periods of time made him feel agitated and cramped.

The only thing that brought him back inside was the almost painful realization of how hungry he was.

Seifer steeped up into the train and shut the door behind him, entering the car that held the strategy room down below and connected to the hall that led to the control room and Matthew's bed room. It was dark, the whole train seemed to be devoid of lights, the only illumination that came was from behind a small window in the door to the train's lead car.

"?" Seifer was surprised to see Watts here. The man was sitting silently on the steps leading to the next car, his hands resting lifelessly in his lap and his head tilted toward the ceiling. "This is a pretty weird place to hang out."

"I guess it is." Watts said simply. He gave Seifer an acknowledging look before turning his eyes back up to the ceiling.

"Thinking?"

"How could you tell?"

It almost reminded Seifer of Nida, the other boy would often find someplace quiet and think of something Seifer would probably never understand. It would take someone like Watts to understand the things Nida found important enough to isolate himself in order to contemplate, they probably thought about the same things. He wouldn't be surprised, the way they both quietly studied people and situations, they probably were the same type of people. "It's kinda late to just be sitting someplace like this for no reason." Seifer never bothered to interrupt Nida when he was thinking like this, and he wouldn't bother Watts.

"Yeah, maybe." Watts shrugged. He was only half paying attention, his mind was too busy wondering about Zone, and Matthew, about what would happen next, what their next move would be. 'Maybe I worry to much...There's nothing I can do about it yet.'

"Is their anything to eat around here? I'm starving."

"Check the kitchen."

"Kitchen?" Seifer looked around questioningly, he never saw a kitchen. "Theres a kitchen? Where?"

"Theres a door past Matthew's room..." Watts looked down at Seifer again. "You never saw it?"

"No."

"...Oh, well then check harder."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

It was starting to get really late, and the Garden had become dormant, completely still and silent. With out a doubt they were the only ones up now, and at this rate even they would be asleep. Alex and Carbuncle finished their watch and ended up going to the training area, they were probably still wide awake. Squall on the other hand wasn't doing so well, especially without his coffee.

(You can go to sleep if you want to.) Ifrit offered. (I'll keep watch.)

'I'm alright.' Squall said discardingly. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, inviting the peace of silence and darkness. 'What about you, aren't you tired?'

(Not really.) Ifrit needed considerably less sleep then humans did, keeping watch like this was no problem for him. He rarely got bored, considering his life before he met Squall consisted of a routine a lot similar to this.

There was a long silence between them, Squall simply sat and thought about everything that's been happening lately and Ifrit waited half attentively for something to happen. He didn't say anything, and he knew Squall was tired and did nothing that would detour that state, if the boy fell asleep he wouldn't wake him.

As much as he wanted to allow Squall to fall asleep, and he knew that talking to him would only make the chances of him actually getting some rest even worse, he had to ask. (Squall...)

'Hn?'

(Have you seen Griever lately?) Ifrit knew he sounded a bit childish when he asked this, but it was something he couldn't help.

'Ifrit?' Squall couldn't help but take notice of that subtle change in Ifrit's voice, no matter how small it might have been. 'Worried about him?'

'Ifrit...' Squall opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling with thought. Neither of them had seen or heard a word from him for the last two days. 'Think he left?'

Ifrit sounded more worried about it then Squall. (...Maybe.)

'Are you worried about him?'

(No.) Griever was the last person he ever had to worry about. (Not at all.)

'So...you said he left a lot before, you think he left again?'

'Hn...' Squall nodded. 'You said you knew Griever from before? You two were friends?'

Friends? _Friends_? Friendly was the last thing their relationship with each other was, if you could even call it a relationship. It was a painful, completely one sided kind of thing and Ifrit hated it for a long time, he never knew what Griever thought of it. The one thing he did know for sure was that he'd never forget the day they first met, every single moment of it.

Ifrit was young by any standards, maybe 15 or so, and he had been filled with all the brash impatience that came with his youth. They met up by random chance around the Fire Cave, long before any humans care enough to venture there. He didn't know why Griever did it, he'd probably never know for sure, maybe it was because Ifrit was foolish enough to attempt to fight Griever or that he actually harbored the thought he actually stood a chance in hell at wining. But they fought, and Ifrit lost horribly, it was the shortest fight of his life. After which Griever got the annoying urging nagging in his mind and ended up forcing Ifrit, simply because Ifrit was there, and he'd already won, he'd most likely had been denying himself for a long time. It was completely one sided, undeniably rape, and Ifrit struggled all the way. The only thing he did understand about everything that happened was why Griever did it, and it took years of him knowing the other to finally figure it out.

After Griever was done with him they had their second fight because Ifrit was angry enough about what just happened to him to ignore what happened in the first fight. It of course had the same results as the first, and after words Griever left without a look back. Ifrit actually had time to contemplate what had just happened to him, he had time to contemplate how much stronger Griever was then him, the gap was astonishing. He thought about it often, for months he replayed it over and over in his mind and it drove him to train, it drove him to try and become stronger.

It was a few months later when he and Griever stubbed on to each other by the same chance that brought them together the first time. Ifrit again foolishly forced him into a fight, but he lost again just as badly as the first time. It was like nothing he did even helped, like he hadn't been training all those months, he didn't expect the gap between them to be _that_ wide, nothing had changed at all. He was weak and Griever bluntly told himself, and just like he left the same way he did before.

It was a year before they saw each other again, this time Griever intentionally went looking for him. Ifrit didn't understand why Griever came back, maybe he just grew an interest in Ifrit... They fought just as before, Ifrit was still driven by his youthful anger still being on 16 and he got beaten even worse then before. They had sex again, and Ifrit didn't fight against it, it was useless too, he just gave up and submitted. He'd never felt more cold, more alone, more weak in his life, a horrible feeling that made him want to curl up in a ball and sleep until the helpless feeling passed. Griever didn't care either way, and that made Ifrit even madder, and just like before he simply left. The thought of what happened plagued him again even worse then before, every other thought was of Griever. It motivated him, drove him to train even harder then before, to get even stronger.

As much as he hated Griever, he admired him, he admired his strength, his authority, everything about him. It may have been childish, but he wanted that strength, he wanted to be like Griever.

They fell into a long standing routine. Griever would come at unexpectant times whether it would be a few days, or even 20 years since the last time since they'd seen each other. Griever always came to him simply to spar so he could test out his new found strength he'd gained in his travels, or to test out Ifrit's, or when his will power couldn't hold out any longer and he wanted sex. Ifrit long since had lost his anger, his only motivation and goal in life was to catch up to Griever, to be stronger then him, to finally have Griever see him as more then a weakling. It all was cold and harsh, and when ever Griever did what he did he always left Ifrit with that same cold, alone feeling. Griever was the only constant thing, Griever was the only person he had, and he truly did start to love him, even stronger then that admiration he had for him. Ifrit remember how much he wanted Griever to at lest stay with him, he'd cried once...and once only, and the morning after he was motivated more then ever.

Their routine had been going on for 200 years, and some where during it he grew to like it a little, it was the only time he got to see Griever, and he started to look forward to it, awaiting the next time Griever would show up. With the thought that each time he hoped he'd finally become strong enough to win. Ifrit was still working on that.

'Ifrit?' Squall called out. 'Are you alright?' Ifrit had simply drifted off in the middle of the conversation.

(I'm fine.)

Squall decided not to push it...'I better go find Carbuncle and Alex...'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Hmm..." Nida typed with the same diligence he'd had hours ago when he first started, though he was considerably more tired and moving a lot slower. He'd spent all of that time he'd been here on decrypting and recovering the metadata, from there it became simpler. Just a few commands to the command shell, then a simple running of /ect/rc.d/init.d/arkela start, and a lot of work was about to pay off.

'...' Nida paused, his hands hovering just over the keyboard with out movement for a few, long seconds. Everything was silent as it had been for the past few hours, the only sound was the small hum of the immensely large computer mainframe sitting he was using at the moment. "So, you gonna stand out and watch all night?"

After a few seconds of seemingly thinking of whether he actually wanted too or not, Shadow emerged from the darkness shrouding the hallway and into the dim light cast by the Mainframe's 5 monitors, silently laying down on the ground beside Nida's chair. He turned his head towards the wall and was without movement for a considerable amount of time, the darkness made him hard to see, and the only thing that confirmed his presence was the glow of his red eyes and the soft breathes he took.

"Can't sleep?" Nida took a small reprieve from his work, reaching for a cup of coffee set aside near by.

"I don't need to sleep." Shadow said plainly. "What about you? Don't human's need sleep?"

"Yeah, and I'm seriously lacking it right now." Nida complained. But truthfully he didn't mind that much, sure the loss of sleep right now was aggravating, and the work was somewhat menial. But it had to be done. The group's three man engineer team graciously offered to help him, but Nida declined, he knew how to do this well enough on his own. "What's Cho doing?"

"Sleeping." Shadow said.

Yeah, Shadow was definitely thinking about something, he hadn't looked up once. Nida didn't push it though, Shadow wasn't the type that wanted to share anything he thought.

Another silence fell over the room as Nida went back to the working routine of reading, thinking and typing, Shadow laying quietly at his side. Everything was silent, silent and dark, something like this absolute nothingness was unusual for the Timber Owls headquarters. Usually there was some type of noise, someone shifting in bed, something falling, the quiet sounds of a device, even someone snoring, even at night this place had it's usual life. But tonight everything was dormant, it was a cold feeling, like death, and the darkness seemed to hold meaning.

Shadow's ears perked with the detection of a sensitive sound, low tones they'd habitually been trained to listen for. He lifted his head and looked back towards the door, and when Nida noticed Shadow he looked back curiously.

"Man, your good." Cho's voice came before the sight of him did, the boy slowly walked into the room with sleepy expression on his face.

"Cho, what are you doing up?" Nida asked.

"Nothing, just wondering what you were doing." Cho stopped above Shadow, slowly easing himself down into a sitting position and resting his back against the firmness of Shadow's side. His head laid down comfortably on the dark fur covering his back, Cho was amazed at how soft his fur was considering how the wolf attacked his enemies. "I didn't know it would be so much work, sucks to be you." He was content where he was, he could just curl up and fall asleep with the wolf just the way he was.

Shadow didn't seem to mind Cho's action, he didn't care either way.

"Yeah, it's a lot." Nida said with a sigh. "You should go back to bed, we might have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow."

"I guess..." Cho closed his eyes, stretching his arms above his head with another slight yawn. "Look's like I'm not the only one who's is up." Cho peeked one eye open and glanced through the open doorway before closing it again.

"Noticed me that quickly..." Matthew came into the visibility of the light and leaned against the frame, his head fixed downward reluctantly.

"Shadow saw you before I did." Cho replied. "Why is everybody up? Am I missing something here?"

Matthew sat down on the ground, wrapping his arms around his drawn up knees and hugging them close to his chest."Nah...I just couldn't sleep."

Nida took one look at him and could tell why, his age portrayed all of his emotions, he could see the reason in every part of his body. "Worried?"

"A little I guess." Matthew buried his face into his lap, stifling a small sigh. He was worried, he was worried about Zone, and Watts, and everyone else. He was especially worried about the trouble he was causing, but that worry was overshadowed by his anger over the fact that no one would allow him to help.

There was another silence, Cho laid there restfully, Nida continued working on the back up drive, and Matthew watched with light interest.

"I've been dieing to ask this." Cho finally spoke up again, opening his eyes and looking at Matthew. "How did you end up here anyway, I mean with guys like these?"

Matthew knew they'd ask eventually, and he answered without hesitation or the slightest change in tone. "Zone and Watts saved me."

It all started plenty of years ago, he was young, no more then 4 years old when his parents sent him off to Galbadia Garden. It seemed so long ago now, he couldn't even remember their faces, their names, what they were like. They were overwhelmed and half stressed out, from what specifically Matthew wouldn't figure out until years later, and and it showed clearly the day they sent him. They were apologetic, even cried when he left, the hugged him and kissed him repeatedly. Telling him every moment that it was best for him to go away to this school and they loved him. He didn't know at the time he'd never see them again, but when he thought about it now he knew he should have realized it when they never said they'd visit him or when he'd be coming home. "I don't know why." Matthew said. This was the one detail he remembered clearly about all those years ago, everything else had faded. "But it sounded fake to me."

"Fake?"

"Yeah, they sounded like they loved me and all, but it all seemed fake. I guess they really wanted to get rid or me." Everything seemed to go alright for Matthew when he got there, he was generally too young to be a junior classmen but he got in anyway. Which was really sad when he thought about it, how hard his parents must have pushed to get him accepted . They must have gone to a number of different Gardens before they found one that would take him, they wanted to get rid of him that much. At lest that's how he saw it, and how else could he see it, anyway he looked at it, anyway he could have phrased it, it was still what they were trying to do.

He made friends, which because of his age called him short all the time, enjoyed his classes, art and math in particular, and got over the initial pain of missing his parents and what other family he may have had. That was until about 5 years later. By then he was a full pledged junior classmen and completely, and happily, settled in. It was his home, he no longer knew any other place.

He was in class, that faithful day, his instructor had been going over the basics of junctioning and magic use, nothing too deep or serious. He remembered it so well, Matthew raised his hand and asked the teacher about himself since he was able to use, she inanely asked what kind of GF he was junctioned to, and he told her he wasn't using a GF. In retrospect it wasn't the best course of action even to ask that question, he wished to Hyne that he'd just kept his mouth shut. When the teacher realized he was telling the truth she got the most interesting look on her face, something completely bewildering to him and his classmates, something that inspired an unholy stir of curiosity like a storm brewing over the sea. "That was the first time anyone ever looked at me like that." Matthew sighed. She looked confused and utterly terrified at the same time, not afraid of Matthew, but afraid of the meaning of he'd said.

The next day she nearly dragged him strait up to the head master's office before class and told him about it, by then that friendly teacher voice she always had before was completely gone, like he wasn't even the same person anymore. The headmaster asked him for a demonstration, and Matthew did with a simple fire spell, and he was actually quite proud of himself for doing it right, even smiling afterwords. Unsuspecting of the hell he'd brought upon himself.

The headmaster was disturbed by this but told the teacher not to say anything about it, that really didn't help to contain the situation as the man had hoped. The real problem came from his classmates, they didn't know what it had meant, wondering why such a reaction was brought out in their teacher, so they told the upper classmen about it who did know what it meant and why she would have such a reaction. Pretty soon the word got around the whole Garden, very soon, it wasn't everyday people found out there was a sorcerer in their school.

When they thought of him, they thought of the sorceress, who didn't have a good track record with people, especially since Sorceress Adel was so horrible, Edea wasn't too good herself. Before the day was out his whole world had changed, people hated him for seemingly no reason at all, it had taken him years to gain friend he'd lost with one simple discarding look. At first they called him names and teased him with the bitterness of new found hatred, every bit of contempt they had for Adel was placed on him. The older kids were the worst since they understood it better, and the adults, they seemed to lose their nerve after the first few hours, they were afraid of him just like they had been afraid of Adel. It was an even stronger hate for the adults, the memories of Adel were still fresh in their minds, they knew first hand the horrors of the last sorceress. No one talked to him, no one even looked at him, even the teachers were uneasy around him and spoke to him as little as possible.

It was the worst time of his life, he was forced into isolation. He cried nearly every night, he hated his life, he hated the fact he was born this way, he hated being born at all. It was a good thing he didn't know about suicide back then, he might have been depressed enough to do it. Why wouldn't he be depressed, it was horrifying to walk into a room and watch it become deathly silent at his presence, seeing and knowing people just looked at him with fear and distrust. When they thought he wasn't listening or just didn't care to hide their words they talked about him. And that's when he finally understood then why his parents sent him away like they did and never came back for him, they had the same feelings that the people here had. They must have, or else they would have visited him, they would have called him, they would have at lest written him a letter. "I'm surprised they waited until I was 4."

"Wow, it must have been tough." Nida said sympathetically.

Sympathy, Nida didn't understand how good it felt to hear that. Matthew buried his head into his lap again, he didn't want to think about it, let alone talk about it. "It was." But it got worse for him, if that was at all possible. 3 years had passed since everyone found out and it was notably 2 years since the Sorceress Edea, or rather Ultimenica, had been defeated. He was 12 then, and coming out of class on a distinct day when he heard some of the upperclassmen talking about it. News had finally reached Galbadia about Matthew and it was rumored that Galbadia was coming for him. Even more rumors came about what they would do to him, how they'd give him to Esther to seal up in space, how they'd run experiments on him, how they would cut him open and pull everything out of his body, or how they'd do everyone a favor and simply kill him on sight.

Matthew spent the next few months fearing for his life, he became shy and introverted, fearful of everything. Finally after while another rumor came along that the Galbadia was definitely coming for him soon. The students were overjoyed about it, but Matthew was far from it. When he heard that he barricaded himself in his room and hid, more afraid then he'd ever been, he didn't eat, the only time he slept was when he passed out after a panic attack that seemed to happen after he heard any odd sounds. No one seemed to even care that he disappeared, no one came looking for him, he didn't even know if they acknowledged he was even missing. He didn't wanna die, sure it was bad here but at lest he got to live! His feeling made no difference, after spending several days in his room without even coming out for food or water, Galbadian solders finally came for him. Matthew of course resisted for his life. He fought, scratched, kicked, bit and screamed undignifyingly, but he didn't care, he just wanted to leave. Until finally they just knocked him out.

"I can't believe that happened to you." Cho said.

Matthew was silent for a moment, he seemed more willing to recant the next part then everything else he said. His voice even elevated slightly in tone. "Yeah well..." When he came to he was in the back of a Galbadian army transport, locked in Odine Bangles to suppress his powers and chained to suppress movement. It was like he was cargo that they wanted to keep from sliding around, like he wasn't human. Matthew truly thought it was all over, he'd never cried so much in his life. But then something happened, he didn't figure it out until the truck nearly flipped over that it was under attack. He could only wait fearfully when the two solders got out of the truck, sitting there silently until the sounds fighting subsided.

When Zone and Watts opened that door they might as well have had halos over their heads, he was happy to see anyone that wasn't in a Galbadian uniform. Matthew would never forget when he looked up at the two for the first time, his eyes still blurry with depressed, fearful tears. It was the first and definitely not the last time he saw the two of them confused. But they freed him none the less and Matthew explained what happened to him, and remembered distinctly Zone shouting out 'Those bastards.' and then keeling over from a cramp. They fed him for the first time in days and since he had nowhere else to go anymore they let him stay, they didn't even seem to care about the fact that he was a Sorcerer. Or his completely over the limit inverted shyness that was so strong in him that he could barely speak without stumbling nervously over his words, they completely over looked all of his quirks. He was more thankful for them then he could ever hope to describe.

"I really like Watts." Matthew sighed. "And sure Zone's an idiot some times, but he's a pretty smart guy, I don't want him to get hurt. He should have just let me come, I could have helped him." It was pretty soon that his fear of Galbadia became anger, just like Zone's, his shyness adapted to boldness, just like Zone's, and his boldness became a reserved inquiring, just like Watts.

"I know you want to help." Nida said. "But Zone and Watts know what they're doing when they tell you to stay behind, I'm sure it's frustrating for you but they're right. They don't want you to get captured by Galbadia."

Matthew pulled his legs in even closer to his chest and sighed. "I know..." He was still afraid of Galbadia catching him, as mad as he was, he was still deathly fearful of what what they would do...

"So you-" Nida's voice trailed of in mid-sentence, he wordlessly turned back toward the large Mainframe and studied the screen, watching a trail of streaming numbers too fast and too many to trace with human eyes. "It's done."

"Huh? What?" Cho opened his eyes and pushed himself off of Shadow.

"It's done." Nida leaned forward, looking as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "I'm in."

"Really?" Cho sat up, looking up at Nida. "Let's see what's on it then."

! - ! - !

No one seemed to be able to hold out the whole night through. Zell was the first one to fall asleep, saying that he would just take a nap and to wake him up in few moments. Squall never did remember to wake him up, he'd gave a simple thought when Zell first announced he'd knock off for a few minutes was that what ever made him so tired during the day probably warranted him sleeping, so he wouldn't bother him.

By the time Squall did find Alex and Carbuncle in the training center, they were out of energy and half asleep anyway. Alex even fell asleep in his arms, so Squall carried him back to his room and allowed him to sleep also. Carbuncle on the other hand stayed awake for a while with Squall, but eventually he fell asleep and Squall dropped him off with Zell. It wasn't long after Squall fell asleep himself, and Ifrit didn't attempt to wake him up, at the moment he was the only one still paying attention.

_Rassshhaaaaa_

Carbuncle's ears twitched and shifted his head around, rubbing his eyes with his paw. He was laying on Zell's chest, the boy's arms wrapped around him 'Huh...' Carbuncle yawned and opened his eyes. "Zell..." Carbuncle called out weakly, he didn't want to get up, but he wasn't suppose to be asleep either. "Zell."

"Mmm-mmm." Zell moaned weakly and incoherently.

"Zell." Carbuncle thrust his head upward sharply into Zell's chin, forcing him to wake up. "Zell, come on wake up."

Zell finally opened his eyes and sat up, "Huh? What is it?"

"I heard something." Carbuncle jumped off of Zell's chest and landed sloppily on the ground.

Zell threw his legs over the side of the bed and scratched his head, "Yeah, ok. Which way-"

_Rasssshhhaaaa_

Zell immediately lifted his head. "I heard it that time." He immediately stood up and bolted towards the door with quick steps, Carbuncle jumped on to his shoulder. He burst into the next room with a hasty entrance. "Squall-"

"I know, Ifrit told me." Squall was already awake, gaining a warning from Ifrit that alerted him after the first sound. "It came from the main hall." With Zell right behind him he walked out in to the dormitory hallway and ran towards the center of the Garden. Zell, however was too impatient to wait and broke to into a full sprint, easily passing right by Squall with his superior speed. By the time Squall made it halfway down, Zell was already out of the wing. "Slow down!"

He didn't even notice he was leaving Squall behind. "Carbuncle, do you know which way that came from?"

Carbuncle looked around surveyingly, his ears twitching in an attempt to hone in on any other sound. All he could hear was the echo of foot steps as Squall finally caught up.

Rassshhhaaa

"That way!" Carbuncle indicated the left side holding the Infirmary, cafeteria, and the quad.

"It came from the quad. " Squall announced, charging toward the wing with Zell beside, at a notably slower place. 'What is that?'

(It sounded familiar.) Ifrit said thoughtfully. (I can't remember where I heard that sound before.)

The two of them rushed down the stairs, entering the area where the stage was set up and the balcony opened to the outside. "Huh?" Zell halted at the edge of the stairs, giving a quick, questioning look up at Carbuncle who returned the same gaze. Then he looked Squall's way who only shrugged. "Uh... Bahamut?"

Bahamut visibly flinched when he heard Zell's voice, the dragon, standing in the center of the quad, and slowly turned around with a slightly off expression on his face. He looked... nervous. "Zell, what are you doing awake a this late an hour?"

"Looking for monsters, we're doing a stake out, I told you about it remember?" Zell scratched his slight messed hair as he walked toward Bahamut ."What are _you_ doing up this late?"

Carbuncle smirked and jumped off of Zell's shoulder, looking up at the other GF with an enlightened expression. "So _that's_ what you've been doing all those times." He pointed accusingly. "You've been training...Geez, of course you've been training, I should have figure that out before."

Zell looked up at him criticizingly. "Bahamut, I told you to take it easy."

"I know but..." Bahamut stood completely firm with his usual statue like stance, but his tail gave away his unease, it swished around nervously behind him. "I have too."

"_Have_ too?"

"I feel as if something is going to happen soon, I must regain my full strength." Bahamut said, almost pleadingly.

"If you don't take it easy then you'll just hurt yourself even more." Zell chastised. No wonder Bahamut had been disappearing at night so often, this is were he'd been going. No one would think to come here at this time of night.

Bahamut looked away, his tail shifting around with even more unease.

(I knew that sounded familiar.) Ifrit said thoughtfully.

'Your a little late.' Squall rested his sword on his shoulder and relaxed a little. "Bahamut, have you seen anything strange around here?"

"No."

"Then I'm going back, it doesn't look like we're gonna find anything to night." He sighed, heading towards the main hall. 'We may have missed it.'

_Raasshhhaaaa!_

Squall froze in mid step at the sound, it was that sound again, and it was close... "That wasn't you was it Bahamut?"

"Something's coming." Bahamut announced, becoming visibly tense. He could sense it, something odd...

"Yeah! It's coming right for us!" Carbuncle growled, immediately junctioning himself to Zell. He could hear it, heavy foot steps moving with a stealthy attribute to them that was completely over ridden by the noise it made when it cried out, coming directly toward them.

Bahamut junctioned himself to Zell right after Carbuncle, (Get ready Zell.)

Squall realigned himself with Zell, both giving each other a quick, affirming glance before getting into a ready stance. They could hear it now, coming toward them with quick, slick foot steps, charging swiftly down the stairs of the quad with an unexpected speed. It found it self suddenly blocked by the two and was forced to stop, that's when they got their first real look at it.

This monster was Unknown. It was extremely human like, a complete human body, though it was with out the flesh of skin so it's whole body was comprised of raw, firm, bulky muscles, it was like seeing a person inside out. From it's finger tips and toes extended long, thick, bone claws that looked better suited for something a lot larger, like a Ruby dragon. The unknown creature crawled low to the ground when it moved, almost in an insect like manner, bending in strange ways, it pushed itself on to it's feet and stood strait up, showing it's hight to be at lest 10 feet tall. And finally from the back of it's neck were a series of small tendrils.

(It's body is all oily or something.) Carbuncle said (That must have been what those tracks me and Alex saw were, that's definitely it.)

Unknown let out a snake like hiss and lept at Squall with it's speed, the tall form landed in the same, creeping position it usually moved in and swiped across his chest with it's claws. They went deep with the single blow, painfully deep, causing Squall to stumble back and fall. Unknown quickly scurried backward before Squall could retaliate.

Zell charged forward and ran after it just as it got a safe distance from Squall, it stood again and Zell was already half way into attacking. He drew his arm back and sent a hard blow into the open expanses of it's abdomen, then jumped up and sent a swift kick into it's stomach, carrying enough force to make it fall back down on to all fours.

It made a growling hiss, rising back onto it's heels and then springing into the air again. "Whoa!" Zell jumped backwards evadingly, but he wasn't quick enough to avoid completely. Unknown came diving down head first, it's long arms stretched out in front of it and it's hands press together with claws outward. It fell to the ground, it's claws slashing downward across Zell's chest as it landed, leaving behind deep holes in the marble ground where it's claws had burred into. "!" Zell was knocked backward to the ground, a large, bloody gash left behind down his torso. 'Damn that thing hits hard. Wonder what it would have done if I hadn't moved.'

"Zell, are you alright?" Squall asked.

Zell nodded."Yeah."

Squall rested the tip of his blade against the ground and lifted one hand, the glowing force of a casted spell rising up. "Flare!" A soon as he called out the name, a rush of red energy exploded outward from it's body with enough enough to distort it's large form in the crimson haze. It fell onto all fours again, drawing backwards with a hiss of pain. The tendrils on it's back began flailing around, and with a small out pouring of the clear, oily liquid that coated it's body, they extended out of it's neck and burrowed into the ground.

Ifrit quickly called out when he saw this. (Squall!)

(Zell!) Bahamut warned.

Zell was the only one fast enough to strife backwards out range as a those tendrils shot upward from the ground where he'd been standing. Squall on the other hand wasn't, and he was suddenly caught in a forest of the creatures, whipping furiously at his body from all sides. "Urhhggaaa!" He grunted loudly, with a tight grip on his Lionheart he slashed through the tentacles, enough of them to make the remaining one's draw back. He had to admit, it did hit hard.

(Squall, are you alright?) Ifrit asked.

'Don't worry about me, I'm fine.'

Zell hastily dug around in his inventory and retrieved a Mega-Potion, just about the only thing he had left. He quickly drank about half of the bottle himself, wiping away the portion of it that spilled and rolled down his chin with the back of his hand. "Squall, Here." Then he tossed the remaining part of it to Squall who drank the healing liquid thankfully. With it's usual potency the potion took effect and began healing almost instantaneously.

'Ifrit.-' Squall didn't even have to finish his thoughts.

(I understand.)

Zell agilely flipped backwards when Unknown lunged outward for him again and attempted to slash him with it's claws, evading the blow completely. Zell ran forward with his fist drawn back 'You are so mine!' He was about to counter when he and Squall suddenly faded out of reality just as he reached the creature and was halfway into delivering the final blow. Ifrit took their place, bursting through the ground with a rush of burning hot air, rocketing high above Unknown atop a large Meteor engulfed an intense flames. He floated off of the burning rock, cuffing his hands together into fist, arching backwards with all of his flexibility and with a fierce roar he hammered his fist into the Meteor and sent it plummeting towards the ground. It slammed into Unknown before it could even attempt to move, smashing it beneath the hard rock and scorching it in the flames.

Zell and Squall returned, finding the Unknown laying weakly on the ground, it's body smoldering and sizzling from the last attack. But it had some strength left in it, it pushed it self on to all 4s and charged forward, surprisingly leaping over Squall and Zell instead of attack and diving over the Quad's balcony to escape.

Zell and Squall immediately ran after it, halting at the balcony and peering out into the darkness outside of the Garden. "Uh... I guess we wont have to worry about that anymore." Zell leaned over the balcony, trying to distinguish something out of the infinite black. "What was that?"

Squall looked forward, and finally gave up trying to see it. "I've never seen anything like that."

! - ! - !


	10. Chapter 10 Attack on Balamb Garden

Chapter 10: Attack on Balamb Garden

Seifer laid his head on the kitchen table and yawned, it was much too early for him, it felt like they'd woke him up at the crack of dawn. And since he didn't know what time it was they may very well have. "Damnit, can we get this going?" He groaned sleepily.

Seifer's eyes rolled over the room that he hadn't seen so clearly last night, he still couldn't believe it took hi so long to find this pace. The car was larger then it seemed from the outside, there was plenty of room inside for everyone not to mention every appliance that anyone could want lining the counter. Most likely Watts was the one that got impulsive and bought them, and if Seifer was right about Watts being like Nida, he was probably the only one who could cook.

Everyone was awake, beside Seifer to his left at the round kitchen table was Cho, Shadow laid lazily on the ground inbetween them. Watts leaned against the wall near the door, his hat shrouding his closed eyes. Matthew sat to the left of Seifer, and on the other side of the table Zone sat with Enix in his lap. "..." Seifer scratched his head sleepily and watched the two with slight interest, it was strange how Enix just took to him the way he did.

With a small clammer Nida walked into the room with a folder under his arm, a rather thick one. He didn't seem nearly as tired as everyone else, which seemed odd to Cho and Matthew. "For Hyne's sake, what time is it Nida?" Seifer asked, clearly aggravated.

"About 6." Nida told him plainly, he leaned beside Watts and opened the folder, quickly starting up their own conversation. It wasn't a long one, within a few seconds they were finished and Nida was ready to tell them why he'd woken them up this early in the morning.

"Come on Enix." Zone pleaded softly, a bowl of applesauce sat on the table in front of him and Enix was perched in the chair beside him still wrapped tightly in the bandages placed on him last night. It had taken a while for Zone to get him to stop trying to scratch his way out of them, and now they'd come to t his. Zone held a spoonful of the only soft food he could find in front of Enix, trying really hard to get him to eat. "You gotta eat."

Enix only tilted his head away from the food with soft whines.

"There's nothing wrong with it." Zone told him, "See, watch." Zone opened his mouth wide and ate the apple sauce on the spoon convincingly. Enix watched, but he still refuse to eat anything. "It's good see." Zone dipped the spoon onto the bowl and took a small scoop, holding it temptingly in front of Enix. Still Enix just whined and looked away with a depressed attribute to his eyes. "I don't get it, he's starving, so why doesn't he want to eat?"

Cho, who'd finally realized that Zone wouldn't be able to get Enix to even look at the food, decided to try his hand at it, he'd learned a few tricks. "Zone." Cho looked at him with a seriousness that was still unusual for him, when Zone saw it he handed him the spoon and allowed him to try with out a word.

Cho slowly rested his hand on the baby Chocobo's head, causing Enix to look up questioningly at Cho. He trusted Cho to some degree, when Cho used his hands he always held the right places or touched them in the right way... "It's alright..." He cooed softly, gently digging his fingers into the small feathers behind his neck and rubbing him with air soft touches. Enix's eyes slowly drifted closed and his body started to relax, Cho seemed to know what he was doing. "It's fine..."

A small smile crept on to Cho's face when Enix started responding, he gently slipped his hand from Enix's head and his finger found it's way under the bird's chin. "I know your hungry..." Cho glanced up at Zone with a quick look then turned his eyes back down to Enix. "He really does want to eat, he's just afraid..."

Cho sighed inwardly and looked down with forlorn eyes. "He really couldn't eat, he couldn't trust the food, Hyne knows what they were feeding him." Cho said softly, his fingers gently stroking the sensitive area below Enix's beak. "He probably got sick a lot, and all those guys kicking him around..." Cho swallowed hard, narrowing his eyes a bit. "Those guys hitting him didn't help."

Everyone watched curiously as Cho spoke, Seifer in particular noticed the way he smiled at Enix, even he noticed the hollow look in his eyes. As if he was thinking of something important while talking of something mundane.

"He doesn't trust people." Cho's smile faded, replaced by a more strait jawed, serious expression. Enix leaned closer into Cho's finger, trying to get more of the feeling. "The only thing humans have been to him was hurtful, all his life they ignored him and kicked him around... He's been alone, never seen his parents, he never had any body...completely alone..." Cho held the spoon in front of Enix, bringing it slowly closer to his beak. "Probably been in cages all his life..."

Cho shook his head, a realizing expression coming on to his face as if snapping out of a deep thought, and looked up at Zone acknowledgingly.

"I don't know why..." Cho waited patiently as Enix stared at the spoon, then the baby bird slowly but surely inched closer and closer until finally the small tongue flicked out and took a small taste of the contents. Cho rubbed Enix's head lightly. "Yeah, it's good you see... I don't why but he seems to like you Zone, and he has a lot of bad tendencies, he doesn't trust anyone. So your gonna have to be the one that teaches him out of it." Cho dipped the spoon into the bowl and held another spoonful of the applesauce in front of Enix, who hesitated again, but eventually starting eating. "Just make sure you take care of him."

Zone nodded silently and took the spoon back from Cho. "A-Alright." He said, delicately picking up Enix and setting him down in his lap again, "Ok little guy, ready to eat?" Zone asked hopefully, Enix let out a small, reluctant almost squeak like sound, almost as if he was ashamed or unsure of excepting this. Zone was a nice man, and it didn't taste bad , so he'd try it... "Great..." Enix looked up at the man, he seemed happy enough and when Zone was happy Enix felt kinda happy too...Enix tilted his head to the side and looked up questioningly when Zone's smile faded and his expression started to drop. "Ow!" Zone suddenly cringed and clinched his stomach. "Cramp!"

Seifer sighed and lifted his head off the table. "Nida, if your going to say something do it now, or else I'm going to bed."

With Seifer's prompting Nida leaned over Matthew's shoulder and dropped the binder down on the table in front of Zone with a loud crash. "I got in." He stated simply.

Zone looked up with one eye forced open, "W-What? Really?"

"Yeah, I finally decrypted the backup drive around one last night." Nida said. "I figured I'd wait a few hours before waking you guys up, try to go through what I could."

Watts picked up the folder and began skimming through it, "This is amazing, look at all of this. Weapon blueprints, systematics, there is even stuff about Gcom."

"Gcom?" Matthew looked back questioningly at Nida, "You didn't tell me there was anything in there about Gcom."

Nida only shrugged, "I hadn't found it at the time, I still don't know about everything that's in there. But I did find something really important that we may need to deal with right now."

"Uh-oh..." Watts shifted his hat upward, his eyes showing every bit of how awake he'd just become. "Are you talking about these memos?"

Nida nodded. "Yes, that's it."

Zone patted his stomach slightly as the cramp faded and he sat up strait with a sigh of relief. "What about them? What's do they say?"

"It's not just memos, it's maps too." Nida told him.

"Maps..." Watts glanced up at Nida and began shifting through the pages. "Oh, these maps... Wait, I must be missing something, everything is in blue and green, what does this mean?"

"Even though nobody's heard of them, apparently Gcom is more of a threat to Galbadia then we thought." Nida explained. "From what I've seen they're going on the defensive, Galbadia's next move is a campaign to gather territories, they split up the world map in into places that Galbadia thinks they can take control of and places they couldn't win against Gcom if they should decide to go on the offensive. At lest not with out too high of a cost."

"Wait...so they're going to invade cities?" Cho asked. "Again?"

"They think this Gcom group might be planing to do the same." Nida nodded. "These guys must be pretty powerful."

"It sound almost to me like they're gearing up for a war." Seifer said inquiringly.

As much as he didn't want to, Nida nodded. "Unfortunately they are. And there in lies the problem, everything I've read suggest that both sides are starting their territorial campaigns soon. "

Now Seifer was interested. "How soon is soon?"

"_Really_ soon. Galbadia is waiting for Gcom to make the first move." Nida sat down beside Cho and looked around at the group with a sigh. "You see, Gcom wants GF's for some reason, I haven't learned why yet but they do. So they're going after a place were there would be multiple GFs."

"Are you saying what I think your saying?"

"I'm not sure about this but to me it sounds like they'd go for a Garden, I'm not sure which or even if that's true but everything suggest they're going to make a move really soon."

"So they could be coming after Balamb ?" Cho asked reluctantly.

! - ! - !

"Hey get up!"

"Uuhaaa?" He was uncomfortable, he felt hot and sticky, and that's was the first thing he noticed when he was stirred into consciousness. Alex ran his hand through his short white hair with a small groan, opening his blurry eyes to the vision of green ones looking down on him. "C-Carbuncle?"

"Know any one else green and furry?" Carbuncle was standing on his chest after running into the room with a child like excitement, he knew Alex was a sleep but he just couldn't wait any longer. '?' Carbuncle looked down at the surface he was standing on when he realized his paws were getting wet.

Planting his hands on the bed behind him he pushed himself up, causing Carbuncle to slide off of his chest and into his lap. Alex looked around, how did he get here? One minute he was in the training center and the next... 'Great, I fell asleep.' Alex vaguely remembered Squall carrying him back... He rubbed his head and sighed in frustration, "Aw man! I can't believe I fell asleep!"

Nothing he could do about it now.

Alex laid on top of the messy dark green covers covering his bed and finally noticed he was completely naked, and drenched with sweat. He didn't get it at first, but he did find himself often sweating like this at night, so this probably wasn't so unusual. 'I must have gotten hot and taken them off.' "Hey wait!" Alex blushed in embarrassment and looked away, he couldn't cover himself, Carbuncle was already in his lap. "I don't have have any clothes on!"

"Calm down, it's not like It's something I haven't seen before." Because of memory loss, Carbuncle barely understood humans and shyness of being naked, but trying to comprehend it wasn't important right now. "Guess what happened last night!"

Alex forgot his embarrassment for the moment and looked back down at Carbuncle curiously. "What? What happened?"

"We found the monster." Carbuncle smirked, holding a teasing look that showed every bit that he knew something Alex didn't.

"What!" Alex shouted in excitement, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Carbuncle jumped off of Alex and landed on the ground beside his bed. "Because we were too busy _fighting_ it."

"You fought it!" Alex sprung out of the bed in a blur, hastily on his feet in front of Carbuncle with an excited expression, as if he was hearing the most excited thing he ever experienced. "What did it look like? Was it big? Was it really strong? What it a GF?"

Carbuncle looked up at Alex, smiling impishly as he turned his eyes around the familiar room. "Geez, there's a lot of green in here." Mostly everything was green, from Alex's covers and sheets, to his messy clothing halfway hanging from the open closet, from the posters on his walls to just about every random thing scattered about. "You must really like this color?"

"Carbuncle! Tell meeee!" Alex pleaded.

Carbuncle turned away and began walking off, an amused look on his face. "Nah-uh, You should have stayed awake." He teased.

Alex immediately ran after him, he couldn't believe Carbuncle was doing this to him! "Come on! Tell me, tell me!"

Carbuncle lept forward, out of Alex's grasp and landing intentionally in front of the door to the bed room. "You really wanna know?"

"Yeah!" Alex nodded.

"Too bad." Carbuncle quickly slipped pass the door and dragged it closed.

Alex dropped his head in frustration and laughed to himself, Carbuncle wouldn't make this easy for him. "Come back here!"

"You should probably put on some clothes." Carbuncle laughed from the other side of the door.

! - ! - !

"Geez, what a night." Zell scratched his damp head, still wet with a recent shower, he shut the door behind him, entering the dormitory hall. 'How do you do it Bahamut?'

(Do what?) The GF asked, junctioned to Zell.

'You stay up all night and you can still be still wide awake in the morning.' Zell lifted his hand over his mouth with a light yawn. 'It's amazing.'

(I don't know, I guess I have always needed little sleep.)

Zell lifted his hand to his head and paused when he came to Alex's room, hearing an odd host of sounds coming from the inside. 'Huh?' Zell leaned to the side to press his ear against the door in hopes of identifying them, but before he could get close the door burst open and Carbuncle darted out, right past Zell. Right behind him was a half dressed Alex chasing after him.

"Come back! Tell me!"

"No way!"

Zell scratched his head, if he thought hard enough he could probably figure out what Alex was yelling about but it didn't matter. 'They seem happy.'

(Yes, Carbuncle has been doing a lot better.) Bahamut agreed. (He's not depressed anymore.)

The bell rung behind them and classes began emptying, only a few seconds after words the halls began filling with students and the noisy clutter that came with them.

'When you look at him...' Zell smiled to himself as he watched Alex and Carbuncle running out of the dormitory wing playfully in a series of pleads and bantering. 'He seems completely normal, I keep forgetting he's not the same...'

(Zell?)

'It's just that sometimes when I talk to him I forget he lost his memory and I say a lot of stuff he doesn't get it or remember.' Zell sighed and dropped his hands to his sides, a disappointment coming in to his words. 'And he just looks at me.' When Carbuncle gave him that look that he didn't understand, he could tell the GF was sad, it made him sad, and that he was beating himself up inside because he couldn't understand anything. And Zell immediately felt bad for making him feel that way, it was painful to watch.

(He's a different person now.) Bahamut said, his voice holding it own solemness to it when he spoke this time. (Do not dwell on the past, focus on making new things for him to comprehend and remember.)

Zell rubbed his head and shrugged. 'Yeah, your right.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Ifrit stood idly against the wall of Squall's office. Watching as his charge locked the elevator door. "What if some one needs help?"

Squall turned a key mounted in a small panel in the wall and pressed a few buttons until he heard the satisfying click of the locking device. It blocked the elevator from coming up to his office. "They can wait."

"What if someone has some type of information about the monster?"

"If they did-" 'Which I doubt.' Squall fell into his chair and laid his head back against the comfortable leather. A deep, relieved breath forced it's way out of his mouth and he closed his eyes, he wanted nothing more then to be allowed to sleep. "Then they can go talk to Zell."

Ifrit smiled to himself in amusement, Squall was still tired, and he got annoyed easily when he was tired. Ifrit always found it funny to watch Squall deal with people when he was annoyed. "What about the Garden? Your not going to move it?" It had been a while since the Garden had moved from the spot it was in, there hadn't been a need too.

"Nah..." Squall shook his head, Nida had been the pilot and he'd sent him on a mission which he had yet to return from. Squall really didn't trust anyone else to do it, Alex was training to be a pilot but Nida had been the one teaching him. Needless to say Alex's training slowed down substantially since then, Squall really didn't trust Alex enough allow him to attempt to move the Garden. "I'll just wait for Nida."

Ifrit nodded, folding his arms and standing silently with a statue like firmness. If Squall didn't want to do anything them he supposed there was no reason in asking.

Though the silence didn't last long. "...?"

Squall peeked one eye opened and looked towards Ifrit. "What?"

"Griever."

No more then a few seconds had passed before Griever faded into reality in front of Squall. "Squall, I have been looking for you." His voice was more serious then usual, if that was possible.

"Griever? What? What is it?" Squall's first instinct was to ask where he'd been the last 3 days, but it sounded as if now wasn't the time to, and besides, he'd reserve that question for Ifrit.

"There is something coming this way, three groups of human machines, the formation they're in and their speed suggest they might be attacking."

"Attack?" Squall pushed himself up out of his chair and walked over to the lift mounted in the center of the room. Ifrit and Griever junctioned themselves to him as the machine ascended to the cockpit and Squall quickly crossed the small area to the throttle. "Where is this?" Squall began peering out of the windshield that comprised the ceiling.

It didn't take him long to find what Griever had been talking about, there were 3 groups of 4 armored SUVs coming towards the front door, the quad, and the training center. He wasn't sure at first, but Griever was right, their speed and formation was that of an attack. But...Why would anyone be attacking them? "Damnit." Squall picked up the microphone resting near the throttle and turned on the intercom.

'I count 12 vehicles, so at about 4 men apiece there are 48 of them...' He didn't have time to waste. "Attention all Garden students, this is an emergency so listen _very_ closely, time is short so I will only say this once. SeeD teams A and C take defensive positions at the front gate, SeeD teams B and E take position at the Quad. Team D take position at the rear of the training center, and Zell, meet me at the front gate." Zell was the only person he was sure was awake and alert. "Upper classmen and instructors, stay with with the junior classmen in the 2 floor classrooms."

Squall turned off the intercom and took quick steps toward the lift, he had to get down there, he had to see who this was, why would anyone be attacking anyway? (Griever?) Ifrit asked. (Where were you?)

(Thinking.) Griever said plainly.

(...) Ifrit didn't respond, though from the way he simply and abruptly dropped the subject it was clear he wanted to say more. Griever knew Ifrit better then he knew himself, and Ifrit never dropped the where were you subject.

Griever wanted to ask about what he was thinking, but he wasn't too strong on conversation. Despite they're strong familiarity with each other it was with Ifrit especially that he had the hardiest time talking to, not that he'd tried to talk to a lot of people. Maybe it was because Ifrit still felt like just a kid to him, that much he told Ifrit so, he was 200 years older then Ifrit and maybe that was the reason. Though Ifrit had a long number of years behind him, he was a far cry from a child. So what was it that made Griever view him that way... (...)

Squall quickly pried himself through the elevator and bolted down the platform's stairs, finding himself in the middle of an organized chaos. There were students everywhere, running around in a half panicked mass trying to get from their class to acquire their weapons to get to their posts, all of them knew when Squall said something like emergency he meant it. They were surprisingly focused considering they didn't know what the threat was, what were they suppose to be defending against?

"Squall!" The familiar voice of Zell called out to him and the other boy meet up with him just as he descended down the last stair into the main hall. "Squall, what's goin' on around here?"

"We're under-" Squall didn't even get to finish explaining before 3 loud, simultaneous explosions erupted around them at the same time. A burst of smoke plowed through the wide hall leading to the main gate and washed over Squall and Zell. "We're under attack!"

"Attack? By Who?" Zell demanded angrily.

'No, it's too soon!' Squall looked around, it had been less then a full minute since Squall had seen the on coming force and now. People still hadn't reached their post! "I don't know." Squall grunted, charging forward in a flurry of other SeeDs running to the front gate. Zell followed, in the same confusion as everyone else.

'What the hell is going on around here?' Zell lifted an arm over his eyes as he passed through a thicker area of the smoke, it burned his eyes and forced them to close, he stumbled forward with out sight. But he was suddenly surrounded by the sounds of battle between the SeeDs and unknown attackers, upon emerging he and Squall were confronted by two men in Green jumpsuits, both wearing head sets, and the name Gcom in white letters across the left sleeve. "What the hell! Who are you and what the hell do you think your doing?" Zell shouted angrily, he charged forward aggressively but Squall grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him back.

"I'm sorry but we have to do this." The first man on left said."We need your GFs."

"No." Squall didn't ask why they came literally busting in or why they wanted what they did, he didn't hesitate to decline. "Leave, now!" Squall shouted, drawing his Lionheart and holding it readily.

"I apologize but we can't." The second man on the right shook his head. "We don't want to hurt you but this is too important, give them up now and we can leave with out any trouble."

'I don't know who these guys are.' Zell gave a side ways glance to Squall as he lifted his fist, placing one foot back for leverage for a take off. 'The hell if I'm gonna let um' do this!' Zell scuffed to himself and charged forward. "You break in here trying to do something like this and and you don't want any trouble!" Zell drew his fist back and threw a hard punch into the first man's face, knocking him back on to the ground.

"Flare!" The second man lifted his hand outward towards Zell with a casting, a rush of crimson energy erupted outward on to Zell's, placing him in the center in an explosion. Zell was thrown backward as the energy imploded, but he landed on his feet and took a few steps back to realine himself to a safe distance. Squall didn't hesitate, he immediately retaliated as soon as Zell hit the ground. Squall lept into the air, drawing the powerful sword over his head and slashing it down on to the man upon decent, knocking him to the ground on his stomach.

The first man staggered to his feet and quickly regained himself, noting how hard Zell hit. These really were the two people who helped defeat the Sorceresses, fighting them one on one probably wasn't a smart idea. Realizing this, the man pulled the microphone on the headset closer to his mouth. "GS 3, 23rd infantry, Going off line."

"Are you sure about that?" The second man asked.

"We're losing time." The first man held one arm outward and closed his eyes, casting a spell. "Sleep!"

"Yeah I guess... GS 34, 23rd infantry, Going off line." The second man nodded and cast the same spell. "Sleep."

Much to Squall and Zell's surprise, they cast the spells on themselves. 'What are they doing...?' Squall thought with growing confusion. 'Ifrit, Griever, do you guys know what they're doing.' Squall was hesitant to attack, why would they be doing something like this?

(I don't know.) Ifrit replied with the same confusion.

(Maybe it's some type of healing technique?) Griever didn't know either.

'What is going on?' Zell was confused all around, he didn't get anything that happened today.

(Maybe a strategy to through you off of some-) Bahamut's voice abruptly cut off in mid sentence and he watched with his own great deal of surprise as the two men's bodies began changing. Their arms, their legs, their torso's grew larger, the first man's muscles bulked up with great speed and his skin changed color, soon the sleeping form wasn't human anymore, it took the form of an Wendigo, though considerably larger then a normal one.

Purple fur grew from the bulking second man, black horns grew from his head, fangs and claws from his mouth, hands and feet turned paws. By the time it finished, he was a very fierce Behemoth.

"Holy shit! What the hell was that?" Zell took a flinching step backwards when he saw this, he could barely believe his eyes.

(A transformation?) Ifrit realized in bewilderment. (From a sleep spell? How is this possible.)

"We've got bigger problems to think of..." Squall lifted his sword again and took another step backwards "If all of these men could do something like that then all of them must be able to." Squall grabbed Zell by the arm and abruptly pulled him in the opposite direction. "Come on! We don't have time for this!"

"Squall what are you doing!" Zell shouted angrily.

"We have to focus on damage control."

This decision was one more of today's confusing happenings. (Damage control?) Ifrit asked with uncertainty. (Why are you giving up on attacking?)

(Because he has to.) Griever sighed, he was surprised that Ifrit didn't understand a move like this after all of this time of being with Squall. (These people made a surprise attack on the Garden's three weakest and most open points before a complete defense could form. Any attack effort against a skillful offensive such as this now would be disorganized and in-effective at best, and with an ability like that it is inevitable that they will leave with something, so minimizing that is a central priority.)

Ifrit was surprised Griever thought so much like Squall. (You picked up on that quickly.) Ifrit never realized it but when ever he said something like that, he always sounded younger then he was, he almost sounded child like in admiration. Something Griever always noticed.

! - ! - !

"Here goes nothing!" Alex took a deep breath and struggled not to cough out the smoke dusted air, then with his eyes pried open he bolted out of library door and charged into the main hall. Carbuncle trailed just behind him, forcing himself to lag behind slightly, he was so tense it was the only thing he could do to keep from dashing out head and leaving Alex behind.

"Follow me!" Alex ran through the curved hall that resembled more of a battle field, weaving narrowly through the fights, barely avoiding being caught in the crossfire of weapons and attack. Alex crouched down slightly and pushed his way past two advancing SeeDs, then slipped beside another one of the men in the green suites, making sure he kept an eye on Carbuncle while doing so.

"Alex we-"

Carbuncle didn't even have time to speak before Alex cut him off with a sharp and forceful response to make sure he listened. It was imperative that Carbuncle did. "No! Just follow me!" Alex slid to a stop, looking around as if he was trying to find someplace specific. 'There!' Alex abruptly turned around, back tracking a few feet past the still forward going Carbuncle and rushing into the dormitory wing, pausing only to shout back, "Come on!"

Alex finally stopped about halfway down, and with tired breaths he let his body fall against the wall.

Carbuncle nearly ran in to his leg when Alex stop, "What's going on out there!"

Alex's back fell against the wall and he allowed himself to sink to the ground, his hand resting on his pounding heart and heavy breaths. "I don't know."

"You can't sit here." Carbuncle prompted with haste. "Come on, we gotta go!"

Alex shook his head and let it fall lifelessly back against the wall. "No, it's fine."

"What are you talking about, are you blind?" Carbuncle nearly shouted, he jumped into Alex's lap and gave him a sharp headbutt to the chin, growling at him with a hard look. "Have you _seen_ what's going on!"

"Don't worry, it's alright." Alex closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead with his arm, now he wished more then ever then he would have gotten to take a shower before he left. "It's safe here."

Carbuncle's ears twitched uneasily, he didn't know what was going on, he didn't know half of the stuff he'd seen, even more of a reason he didn't like just sitting around."Safe? How do _you_ know it's safe?"

Alex abruptly opened his eyes and he mumbled nervously for an answer, "Uh...L-Look around, there's no one back here." Alex said. "It's safe."

Carbuncle looked around, he was alright, there was no one around here, no sounds of fighting near by. "I guess." Carbuncle dropped his head and let out a tense breath, he felt so jumppy... "What were those things they were using, I've never seen anything like it." Carbuncle was indicating the weapons he'd seen on his brief run through the library and main hall.

Alex snorted "You've never seen anything." ...On second thought, "You probably don't remember old man."

Carbuncle narrowed his eyes at Alex, leaning forward with another growl."Old man? Who are you calling old man?"

"Your like 400." Alex laughed, "Sounds old to me."

"Whatever!" Carbuncle looked away with a grunt. His eyes found their way to the dormitory entrance and his ears tuned themselves into the sounds of fighting again."If your gonna stay here, I gotta go find Zell." Carbuncle sprang out of Alex's lap and landed on the ground beside his leg.

Alex's eyes widened and he flinched at the words, but he didn't say anything... He tried to stay quiet, he knew it would be for the best, but something wouldn't let him. Blame it on being young and impulsive. "No wait!" He shouted out.

Carbuncle glanced back. "What?"

"Stop, don't go." Alex slowly reached out and wrapped his hands around Carbuncle then pulled him back, moving slowly so that he wouldn't be alarmed at his sudden actions.

Carbuncle watched in slight confusion as Alex picked him up from under his arms and held him up so that they were face to face. "What do you mean? I gotta go find Zell."

"Carbuncle just trust me on this, Zell will be fine, just don't go out there." Alex tried not to sound desperate, but he really wanted him to stay. He needed...

The sound of hard footsteps came pounding closer to them down the hall and a loud growl forced Carbuncle and Alex to look to it's source. They both flinched when they saw it, a Behemoth came charging horns first down the corridor headed right towards them at a frighteningly high speed. '!' Carbuncle clinched his eyes shut and reacted in the best way he knew how. "Diamond Shield!"

With a flicker similar to a quick reflection of light off of a shinny surface a thick barrier appeared like a wall between them. The monster ran unexpectantly into the sudden shield at full speed, it's horns bucking into the shimmering wall with a hard force, enough to send it bouncing backwards in a spray of diamond shards with a sound that resembled air being forcefully expelled from it's lungs.

"Whoa! What kinda monster is that?" Carbuncle shook his way out of Alex's grasp and walked curiously over to the shield that was slightly damaged at best. The horns made deep holes, breaking off large chucks of diamonds. "How'd a monster get in?"

Alex tapped the shield, looking unthreatened through the fading, half distorted shield of diamond at the Behemoth. He watched as another man in a green suit peeked down the hall, and with a startled gasp ran down the corridor toward the beast. "Goddamnit..." He fearlessly ran up to the monster who was still struggling to get to it's feet, "Geez, why are you back here? Wake up you moron!" The man clinched his fist and jabbed it hard into in the beast's head. Then with annoyment he pulled the microphone on his head set closer to his mouth. "Base this is GS 11, 23rd infantry, GS 17 is coming back online."

The Behemoth's body began to shrink and the fur, horns and claws started to retract. Slowly but surely Carbuncle watched in amazement as the beast reverted into a naked, sweaty, tired human. The man looked up at the fully uniformed one, "Did you just call me a moron?"

The dressed man scratched his head and sighed."Did I say moron?" He said sarcastically. "I meant idiot!"

"Are you alright?"

Both men flinched from the unexpected voice and looked over their shoulders to the source. There stood another man who seemed to just appear, a tall one, with a broad, firm back and torso, with strong, muscled arms that came from years of work, he seemed to be in his late 30's. He had slightly ruffled brown hair and matching eyes, a strong jaw and a firm, but almost at ease demeanor about him, as if this was just another day for him. He wore the same green suit as everyone else and held another one under his arm which he tossed to the newly transformed solider with one.

'He looks...familar.' Carbuncle could only stare at the man, there was something about him that he'd seen before, he reminded him of some one...

"For Hyne's sake General Allan do you ever make any noise?" The dressed and standing man said with a sigh of relief. "You scared me." This obviously wasn't the place to be scared.

"Sorry." The man deemed General Allan took one more checking glance at the solider quickly getting dressed, before stepping forward and turning his eyes to Alex and Carbuncle. "Well, the GF Carbuncle. Not-"

"No Wait!" Alex quickly stepped in front Carbuncle, objecting before the man could say anything, he seemed to know what he was talking about before he spoke of anything meaningful.

Allen rubbed his thick brown hair and looked down at him with a perplex expression on his familiar features. "What?"

"Not him." Alex shook his head, keeping his eyes out of the man's view.

Allen's expression became firmer."Excuse me?"

"You can't take him."

Carbuncle looked up at Allen, then at Alex, and got an idea of what was going on. "Alex no!" Carbuncle shook his head protestingly, "What are you talking about, get away from this guy!" Carbuncle attempted to get in front of Alex but the boy just pushed him back with his foot.

"Not him! Just leave him...please. "Alex pleaded, he looked up at the man hopefully, giving the sense that he'd beg if he had too.

"Are you serious?" Allen's voice tented with a hint of annoyment and frustration, why was this kid standing in his way? He wasn't trying to fight, he wasn't concerned of his own safety, he was just begging for him not to do this.

"I'll do anything, just leave him alone!"

Carbuncle shook his head frantically and growled. "Alex! What are you doing, I can take care of myself! Are you blind! Didn't you see what these guys are doing?"

Alex just ignored him, and instinctively jumped forward just as Carbuncle set up a barrier to try and keep him back. Alex swallowed hard as he was brought face to face with the man's stomach, only a few inches away yet still keeping his expression steady. The tall man sighed, he could see the boy was determined. "If your seriously going to stand in my, and probably going to keep standing in my way-"

"I won't stand in your way anymore." Alex said desperately, begging him to understand.

Allen only spoke louder, forcing to boy to be quiet and let him finish talking. "Then you can't stay here." He said firmly. Alex didn't say anything, he just dropped his head disappointedly. "I can't risk you getting in the way, It's you or him."

"No!" Carbuncle quickly raised another barrier between Alex and the man, a green tented one that was a thick as the gap between the two. Surprisingly the man lifted his hand and gave a sharp knock to the barrier, shattering it easier. '...No!'

Alex took a deep breath, glancing back at Carbuncle once and nodded. "Fine."

"No!"

! - ! - !

Zell nearly fell to the ground but managed to knell down with his arm grasping the edge of the fountain for balance. He panted heavily trying to catch his breath, he couldn't run anymore, at lest not yet. (Zell, are you alright?) Bahamut asked.

'I'll live.' Zell had no idea what damage control would entail, but he'd just ran around the complete garden twice, giving directions, jumping into every fight they saw even if only for a few second. They had to do it that way because the Garden was grossly under prepared and caught of guard by these transformations, so they had to help even the odds a bit. He'd just gotten off of the elevator from the second floor and just barely managed to get down the stairs.

Squall came from behind and grabbed Zell by his other arm, pulling him to his feet. "Come on, just a little bit longer." He said, just as out of breath as Zell was. He began digging around in his inventory as he trudged forward and dragged Zell along with him. "I told you to take it easy and conserve your energy."

It had been about 5 minutes since the attack began, and the tide of the unexplained battle was slowly but surely starting to turn. "Easy for you to say." Zell forced himself to stand up strait and raise his pace.

Squall found what he was looking for, withdrawing a mega-potion from his inventory and quickly drinking about half of it. It was more then enough to cover what injuries he "Here." He passed it to Zell and released his arm, pausing to allow Zell to ingest it with out the risk of him choking.

Zell halted his heavy breaths to drink the bitter liquid with quick gulps and tossed the bottle aside. "Tha-"

"Zell!"

The two of them stopped when a familiar voice called out for Zell, Squall and Zell looked back and saw the voice's owner, Carbuncle, running toward them as fast as he could, every bit of his haste showing on his face and in his movements. "Zell! S-Squall!" Carbuncle slipped past the two and slid skillfully to a stop in front of them. "They got him!"

"What?" Zell knelt down and picked up Carbuncle, looking him in the eyes. "Carbuncle calm down, they got who?"

"Alex!" Despite Zell's call for him to calm down Carbuncle still shouted frantically, this was no time to be calm. "I don't where these guys came from but they took Alex!"

Zell and Squall gave each other a quick look with shared concern. "What did they look like and which way did they go?" Squall asked. If they wanted to find him they had to move fast, it wouldn't be long before these men were forced to retreat with everything going the way it was now.

"H-..." Carbuncle's voice trailed off just as he was about to speak and his eyes grew wide with surprise.

"What? What is it Carbuncle?" Zell asked, worry and impatience making his voice harsher then intended.

Carbuncle narrowed his eyes and forced himself to speak. "I-It's...That's the guy!" He pointed over Zell's shoulder with his paw and Squall and Zell both immediately looked back. And there he was, Carbuncle couldn't have been talking about anyone else since there weren't anyone else in green jumpsuits behind them. Three men were preceding with a since of haste down the left side of the main hall, one man in particular, that Carbuncle was pointing out, was tall and had brown hair and eyes. Carbuncle quickly jumped out of Zell's hands and on to Zell's shoulder.

Squall aliened himself in their way and lifted his formidable gunblade, forcing them to stop. "Who are you!"

The three men looked at each other and then back towards Squall, "You guys can go ahead." aside from that command, General Allen didn't hesitate to step forward. "I'm sorry about all of this, I guess the lest I can do is introduce myself." Allen didn't expect them to take his apology nor anything else he may say to them but still... "My name is Maru Allen, I'm the head of a Galbadian resistance group called Gcom." He watched as the two men that had been with him ran past Zell and Squall and toward the Garden's exit.

(T-That man...) Bahamut's voice suddenly erupted, though he'd only said two words any one could see that he was unnerved.

'Bahamut? What? What is it?' Zell asked.

(That man...That place...)

Carbuncle glanced one eye back at Zell then fixed it aggressively back on the man, he could see something was wrong. "What?" He whispered.

"I don't know." Zell whispered back. "But Bahamut's freaking out or something."

"Galbadian resistance." Squall had no idea of the internal conflict going on with Zell. "So what does that have to do with us?"

"We need your GFs." Allen responded.

"No."

"Thus the problem." Allen sighed. "This need of ours is more important then you know of at the moment, and I guess you could say we're pretty desperate, that's why we came in like we did. And being the famous Balamb Garden we knew you wouldn't give them up,at lest not right now, But I assure you we did everything we could to keep injuries to a minimum and there were no casualties. I know that doesn't really make up for anything but..."

"Where's Alex?" Carbuncle shouted. But unfortunately Allen completely ignored him, that was until Squall emphasized the question with his sword.

Allen smirked. "Don't worry about him, he's fine, I assure you."

Squall took a step forward and held his sword in a ready position, that wasn't the answer he was looking for. Though he couldn't displace the nagging feeling of familiarity. 'This man, have I seen him before? He looks familiar...' "Where is he?"

Zell continued to call out for Bahamut who still hadn't answer him for a few seconds (...) Then a sharp charged ran through Zell's body and the distinct feeling of something else taking over washed over him as Bahamut began summoning himself

"Bahamut! What the hell are you doing?" Zell shouted in surprise.

"Bahamut?" That name immediately run a bell with Allen and he looked over to Zell and saw the invisible signs of summoning, it was like a sense he'd acquired. Zell must have been summoning Bahamut. Allen abruptly lifted his hand. "Sever." From thin air, a ray the color of the sky at sunset shined down from above towards Zell.

"Zell!" Without hesitation Carbuncle lept off of Zell's shoulder and junctioned himself to the boy, mainly to his defense. He couldn't describe it but something about trying protect Zell, even impulsively, felt right...

"Carbuncle No!"

The feeling was short lived, because what Carbuncle failed to realize... what he failed to remember was that that ray wasn't attacking Zell. "!" Carbuncle felt the full force of a blow intended for Bahamut, the GF death blow knocked him out almost instantaneously.

As soon as Squall saw this he charged at the man with his sword drawn back, he'd seen enough. "Where is he?"

With a blur of skillful movements, the man reached behind him and drew a sword that had beens strapped to his back and completely hidden from the front, quickly lifting it above his head and blocking Squall's blow. It was an a gunblade and one that seemed just as odd and dynamic as the Lionheart, it was the Ultima weapon, and it looked just like the sword the monster Ultima weapon wielded, only a gunblade. "I am sorry to do this too you." Allen said, "But you will understand it later."

Squall took no heed to his words and quickly drew sword back and thrust it forward with all of his considerable strength. A much more agile and faster Allen took a step to the side and thrust his blade down with one hand into the top of Squall's gunblade, knocking him off balance. Then with his body almost a blur with speed he stepped behind Squall and slashed the Ultima Weapon downward across Squall's back.

'!' Squall was immediately dropped to his knees and fell to the ground per the hard blow, a stream of blood seeping out of his back.

(Squall!) Ifrit immediately realized the extent of the man's strength and with that one blow he knew Squall's wasn't enough. If anymore proof was needed, the answer lay in how much damaged was caused with that one strike.

Zell came from behind and sprang into the air, thrusting a hard kick into the back of Allen's head, Allen stumbled forward and quickly wiped the sword around in a slash as he pivoted to face Zell. Zell agilely crouched beneath the sword, evading the attack, then took a step forward and thrust his fist into Allen's stomach, making the man stumble back even farther. 'Bahamut, who is he?'

(That's the man...who experimented on me.) Bahamut admitted, a growl in his voice when he spoke.

'What!' Zell's eyes widened in surprise, but even with that shock he was able to spring backwards to avoid Allen's sword being brought down from above his head. 'This guy is fast!' He could barely avoid his now aggressive attacks, his reflex's were pushed to their limits just to avoid being cut in half by Allen.

"Dammit." Squall clinched his teeth and pushed himself up to his feet, lifting his sword again. He didn't try to attack directly again, not yet. "Flare!"

Allen was suddenly knocked backwards in an explosion of red and energy, giving a fleeting Zell a chance to regain himself and go on the offensive. Zell drew his fist back and threw a quick jab at Allen, the man reached out with same quickness and caught Zell's arm by the wrist. "Sorry." With with a swift speed and an apology he lifted Zell off of the ground by the arm and slashed the weapon deeply across Zell's torso and tossed him painfully aside with one hand.

"Ughaaa!"

Squall drew his sword over his shoulder and slashed Allen across the back just as he finished with Zell, knocking Allen forward with more strength then Zell could throw in his hardiest punch. Allen thrust his foot backwards and kicked Squall in the stomach, then with his speed he turned around with sword raised and thrust the blade down at the high ranking SeeD. Squall, keeling over, barely managed to lift the Lionheart above his head and block, but he was pushed down to his knees by Allen's strength. What made it worse that the man was doing it with one hand.

'He's stronger then me...and too fast.' Squall grunted, pushing futilely against Allen's strength.

"I wished it hadn't come to this." Allen sent a swift kick into Squall's stomach, hard enough to make him drop his Lionheart and force the air from his lungs with a blood filled cough. Then he reeled his Ultima Weapon back over his shoulder-

(No!) With out hesitation Ifrit took over for Squall, just as Allen dragged the blade across the ground and drove into Squall in a hard uppercut. Ifrit had to admit, Allen was strong, even if he was trying to take it easy. (He's too strong for Squall) Ifrit mentally winced from the blow.

(Ifrit! Don't!) Griever found his words were too late, before he could stop him Ifrit had unjunctioned himself, he was smart enough to know he'd never get a summoning off on this man. (Damnit!)

Ifrit appeared suddenly in front of Squall and before Allen knew what was happening, a burst of flames was being spewed from Ifrit's mouth. Allen stumbled backwards with his arm drawn over to his face, attempting to block it from the fire. '...' Allen glanced back at the half unconscious Zell laying in a pool of his own blood and the fully conscious Squall behind Ifrit. With a simple assessment of how much the sudden flames had hurt and what he heard of Ifrit, he knew what he had to do, there was no way he'd beat Ifrit like this. "I was wishing it wouldn't come to this. Sleep."

"?" Ifrit was forced to take a step back as green tentacles burst out of a unconscious Allen's back and his body began to grow. Blue scales grew over his body and from his lower back protruded a blade, more of those green tentacle's grew from his arms and legs... when the mutation was finished, he looked like a cross between a blue dragon and a Marlboro, standing about 7 feet tall at full length. His transformation was much quicker then his solder's had been.

"Squall!" Ifrit turned back and pushed Squall out of the way as a mass of green tendrils shot out of the transformed Allen like projecting spikes and into stabbed into Ifrit's back like blades. He roared in pain.

"Ifrit!" Squall picked up his gunblade and dashed forward to help, only to be pushed back by Ifrit again, narrowly missing a more of the green appendages whipping outward as he tumbled backwards off balance.

"No!" Ifrit commanded promptingly, he grunted loudly as a few of the tentacles burrowed in his back pushed their way out of the other side. Burning hot blood spewed it's way from his mouth as 3 stained appendages protruded painfully from his chest. "Bastard..." Ifrit cringed slightly and through some power his blood ignited into a powerful flame, hot enough to melt the tentacles wavering around in his chest. Then he cringed even tighter and a burst of fire and blood shot out of his back, sweeping across the mass of appendages like a wildfire through a dry forest.

In an instant the blue dragon creature with a dagger like tail was ignited in a haze of flames, causing it to howl out in pain and drop to the ground, the green and blue form now a blazing orange and red. Smoldering, the creature fell on it's side like an injured dog, but it still had plenty of fight left, Allen open his fang lined mouth and blew out a blast of opposing blue fire. A much slower Ifrit was caught in the quick counter attack, his body was washed over in bust of freezing cold, causing the most damage to his exposed internals that froze over on contact. "!" Ifrit fell face first to the ground, too weak to move.

He was so quick, and he hit hard, really hard.

Allen's body began to shrink, claws, fangs and tentacle's retracting as he slowly awakened and returned to normal human size, reverting just as quickly as he'd transformed. "Geez..." Allen rubbed his head and reached over to pick up his discarded gunblade, Though he had a noticeable limp, and was much more bloody then when he first started. He could still fight, though in this condition he wouldn't want to. "I should really find something that stretches." He said that because he no longer had any clothing, and he began digging through his inventory for another set he customarily carried around for such an occasion.

"Ifrit!" Squall ran over to the barely conscious GF and fell to his knees above him, staring in horror at the bloody form laying weakly bellow him, his eyes immediately set themselves on the holes stretching through Ifrit's back.. Forget barely conscious, he was barely alive. 'N-No...' He couldn't believe someone could do this to him, so quickly...

Though to be fair, Ifrit did to his share of damage.

"S-Squall." Ifrit looked up weakly at Squall from the ground, unable to move, barely able to breath.

"W-Whoa." Zell finally managed to stumble to his feet, one arm clinching his stomach where a large gash now stood, he was sure their would be a bruise on his neck after this. 'Bahamut, are you alright.' He asked, ignoring his dizziness.

Bahamut only growled, his anger growing substantially after what Allen had did to Zell, and Ifrit and Squall.

Zell rubbed his eyes and place one foot back, it wasn't like he hadn't fought in this condition before. 'We gotta stop this guy!' Zell charged forward, slowed down but still keep a good pace as he dashed towards Allen who was finishing redressing. Squall, with a tight grip on his Lionheart, pushed himself away from Ifrit and rushed forward at the man with every bit of his furry burning inside of him. He would have been on Limit break if he had took the time to let it take it's course.

Allen, quickly zipping up the jumpsuit, took a step backwards and evaded Squall's first slash. Just as he lifted the Ultima Weapon to block Squall's second, Zell came from behind and thrust his fist into Allen's back, giving Squall enough leeway to slash Allen across the chest, and Zell finished it with an even harder punch to the back of his head.

Allen fell to his knees, but quickly shot forward as Squall tried to drive his sword down in to him. With a much superior speed he pushed past Squall's side and quickly pivoted around to face his opposition, dragging his sword with him and slashing Squall across the back for the second time, harder then the first. "!" Squall was knocked off his feet and thrown to the ground in a splatter of blood.

Then with nearly inhuman reflexes he stepped forward and slashed Zell across the chest just as the other boy attempted to attack. "!" Zell was halted mid-step and dropped to his knees, his lower body covered in blood now, then Allen gave him a swift kick to the face, knocking him out...or almost doing so at lest, either way he wasn't fighting anymore.

"I didn't think it would be this much trouble... "Allen rubbed his head with a pang of guilt and a lot of physical pain when he saw what he'd done, but knowing the famous Squall and equally famous Zell would survive he finished with his work.

He had to admit, they were pretty strong, though the fight hadn't lasted long they did managed to do a lot to him.

Allen drew a spare headset from his inventory and placed it on his head, just in time to hear the retreat announcement replaying. 'Great, I guess I only have time for one.' Allen thought to himself, still digging into his inventory as he trudged forward towards Ifrit.

"N-no..." Squall weakly managed to cry out, trying with all of his willpower to pushed himself up with out success. Every time he tried he fell uselessly to the ground.

"Sorry Squall, I have to do this." Allen lifted his hand... 'Sever!' And from above another sunset orange ray streamed down from thin air, striking Squall just in case he had another GF... striking Griever.

'No...Griever?' Squall called out desperately, only to get no answer, he could only miserably remember that was the same attack just about every sorceress he'd ever fault had used. So he knew how effective it was. "No! Leave him alone!"

Squall could only watch as Allen reached Ifrit, "You'll understand this someday, I just don't have time to explain this now." Allen regretfully drew a small, smooth steel cube from his inventory and held it tightly in his left hand while he extended the other. Ifrit opened his eyes and looked back, only feeling a sense of dread because he wasn't able to do anything more. He didn't care what happened to him, Squall...

Allen was suddenly thrown backward by a sudden and hard force, a blow that knocked him to the ground with a spray of blow pouring from his chest. "Don't...Touch him." The thunderous, growling voice of Griever said with the commanding tone. He stood over Ifrit, limping slightly, covered in sweat, his breathing heavy, this was what was left of him after Allen's attack had struck him through Squall's junction.

'Griever...' Allen flipped on to his feet, his sword still held tightly in his hands, 'One of them has Griever?' He didn't expect to find this GF here, but this was even better then Ifrit.

"G-Griever?" Ifrit clinched his hands into fist, biting back the pain as he forced himself to lift his head.

Griever smirked, closing his eyes and letting his rigged body relax. "I told you not to run out here like this, You are such a kid..."

"Griever...You...You-"

"Just don't die." Griever cut him off, speaking as if Ifrit was just an annoyance.

That voice...he was always talking to him in that voice, like he was just a child, just an annoyment. Ifrit shook his head as best he could, Griever was too weak right now, Griever couldn't... "Don't...Griever! You can't..."

"I know what I'm doing." Griever kept both eyes on Allen, his tail whipping around uneasily behind him. Every muscle in his body reeled with the pain of that previous Sever ability used on him, any normal GF couldn't stay conscious, let alone conscious after it. That type of attack forcibly killed a junction. But he wasn't a normal GF, still even with his super imposed power he couldn't last long like this. "Just...Just don't die."

"Griever...!" Ifrit cringed and his body convulsed when he felt something strong pulling him, drawing him. He roared in pain.

Griever knew that pull as soon as he saw it, he'd experienced it himself, it was the pull of being forceably junctioned. Griever looked back to Ifrit, then at Allen who was holding out that steel cube he'd gotten before, which was currently glowing. "Damnit!" He knew what this would mean, but he didn't hesitate for one second.

With a fierce roar Griever crouched slightly and sprang into the air, half floating he came down on Allen with hard slash, swiping him across the chest with his claws. Allen winced with a pained grunt and fell to his knees 'Damnit...I shouldn't have tried to get them both...' He couldn't fight Griever, not like this, he'd be killed. With no other choice Allen turned his focus to Griever, forcing a Junction to the steel cube that held special purpose.

"G-Griever!" He didn't know what it was, but something gave Ifrit the strength to climb to his feet, maybe it was adrenaline, though he couldn't do much else.

"!" Some invisible attack came from Griever, a strong force that struck his injured chest like a blow, knocking Ifrit back down. 'No! Why are you doing this!'

Griever didn't have the strength left after that to break free, and for the second time in his life his body was forced into a junction, a physical one with the cube Allen held, and then repressed. Allen let out a deep breath, wiping the blood from his chin where Griever's claw had grazed the flesh. Looking around with more guilt he pushed the microphone closer to his mouth. "Base this is Maru, I'm pulling out, heavy one objective."

Allen pushed himself on to his feet and turned around, then with a deep breath he ran towards the front gate to catch up with his solders. He had to leave now, he couldn't keep fighting, he didn't want to keep fighting.

But he didn't get far before a loud roar forced him to stop, powerful enough shake the ground beneath him. Allen knew what it was, the sound had become second nature to him after some odd years of hearing it every day. '...' He turned around and saw the source, Bahamut, standing over Zell. 'Bahamut.'

Bahamut grew even angrier at the silence. "Don't do that!" Bahamut growled, watching Allen stare at him like he was some stray dog. But his anger of that was overshadowed by the greater need. "Let him go." As angry as he was, there was some fear in his voice, his green eyes trembled when he looked at Allen... "Give him back!"

Allen didn't have time for this, his solders were leaving. "I'm sorry Squall, Zell, I know I've caused you a lot of trouble but maybe I'll get to explain it to you one day." Allen apologized before running off.

He didn't even address Bahamut.

And for some reason, Bahamut froze, when he looked at the man something wouldn't let him get near the human ...by the time he could push himself out of it the injured man was too far gone. "Dammit." He couldn't go after him, he'd be captured for sure by the soldiers, and that was the_ last_ thing he wanted. He couldn't go through that again.

Besides, he had two injured humans and one injured GF laying unconscious around him.


	11. Chapter 11: Same Problems

Chapter 11: Same problems

! - ! - !

I'm warning you now, this chapter gets kinda long, most of it's talking and it's a really important chapter for later.

! - ! - !

Watts slowly pushed open the strategy room door and slowly peeked down the stairs "Zone?"

Zone leaned backwards in his chair, lifting two legs off of the ground just enough to get a half view of Watts. "Huh?"

"We've arrived sir."

Zone nearly fell when he felt the familiar movement of the train start to decelerate and his fragile balance was almost lost. "Really? Already?" Zone let the chair fall noisily on to all of it's legs and he abruptly stood to his feet, pausing as he heard the subtle sounds of the breaks engaging and the pull of his own body slowing with the train. "How'd you find it?"

"Well..." Watts shifted his hat around nervously, almost in embarrassment. "We were under the assumption that the Garden was changing locations..."

"How did you find it?" Zone repeated.

"It didn't move." Watts told him plainly, he was embarrassed that they'd gone looking around as long as they did for no reason, most of which was his fault . In fact they had wasted a whole day.

"Oh...that might be bad." Zone said un surely. Enix, who'd been sitting on the table, jumped into the air with a few flaps of his unbound wings and glided on to Zone's shoulder. Zone couldn't help but smile when he petted Enix's head lightly, the small bird seemed comfortable there, and he had yet to fall. "Ready to go little guy?"

"Kewk."

"Alright." Zone ascended the stairs where Watts was waiting for him above, the screeching sounds of engaging breaks grew louder and louder until they could feel the train come to a slow stop and the familiar sound of pressure being released emitted from below. Cho and Matthew were already awaiting here, as soon as the train stopped they pushed the door open into the brightness of Balamb's planes outside and jumped out.

"I hope we aren't to late." Nida emerged from the next car with the binder holding the back up's files underneath his arm firmly.

"You worry too much." Seifer was right behind him, Shadow trailing silently at his heels. "You act like they can't take care of themselves."

"I hope your right." Nida grabbed on to a railing near the door and jumped out into the field of soft grass and low winds just out side of the city of Balamb, at the very edge of the rail road tracks. He could see the beach not to far ahead and the calm waters of the ocean that stretched even farther over the horizon .

"I guess we're walking form here." Cho stretched his arms above his head and shifted around a bit before he turned back toward the train and the group that had gathered there.

"What about the monsters?" Watts pulled the door closed and waited until he heard the sound of it locking behind him.

Cho smirked to himself and drew the rod holstered to his back, "I think we can handle that."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Oh man..." Nida looked around in a disappointed, horrified amazement and stopped in his tracks as soon as he stepped in to the main hall.

Cho rubbed his head uneasily, looking around at the damages that littered the structure. Burn marks lay sparsely over the marble floor, deep marks, dents and imprints accompanied them. Long fractures and in some places holes plagued the second floor balcony, and blood was everywhere. "We're too late."

"They probably had no idea. " Seifer let go of the handle his gunblade he had been ready to draw as soon as Shadow alerted him to the scent of blood on entry. Things seemed calm enough here except for the noise of machines and the clammer of a lot of people, clean up was in full progression, a great deal of the students were working on repairing all of it.

"From the looks of it this didn't happen that recently." Watts took off his hat and held his head down solemnly. "It looks like it happened yesterday."

"Don't feel too bad Watts." Matthew tried to console him as best he could, "It wasn't your fault, even if we would have found this place yesterday we probably would have already been too late anyway."

It didn't help. "Yeah maybe." Watts rested his hat atop his head again and walked forward toward the elevator, careful not to get in anyone's way. Zone took another sobering look around before shaking his head and going after Watts.

Nida took a small step forward and looked upward towards the second floor, shifting the binder under his arm uneasily. "I can't believe somebody could do all of this. No wonder Galbadia is so afraid of them." With an wondering expression coming to his face he turned his eyes back down to the first floor and began drifting off away from them. "I'd better go find Squall."

That left Seifer, Cho, Matthew, and Shadow alone.

"It's already over." Matthew slowly eased himself down on to a bench, propping his elbows on to his knees and resting his head in to his hands. "What am I suppose to do now?"

"I don't know." Seifer shrugged discardingly, "Go to the library or something."

Matthew looked up at Seifer, then down at the ground. "Might as well..."

! - ! - !

"Ifrit, it's not your fault." Squall climbed behind his desk and fell into his seat with a tired sigh, he was so sleepy he barely made it to his office.

Ifrit slumped weakly against the wall beside Squall's desk and sunk down to the floor, his eyes glaring at the opposing wall with a fire Squall had never seen in the generally calm GF. "If I had only fought harder-"

"Then you'd probably be dead." Squall cut him off.

An abrupt, tense silence fell over the room after that, Ifrit gave a fleeting glance to Squall, not expecting to hear the firmness in his tone that he did, but looked away again, only more angry with himself.

Both of them were still recovering after being beaten so badly the day before, Squall had been unconscious for at 17 hours before he woke up in the infirmary. And by then the bleeding had stopped, he'd been bandaged up, an IV been streaming blood into him, and a host of different types of potions and healing spells had been used on him. By now all of the lacerations in his back and through out the rest of his torso had been healed, but it would still take some time for him to regain his strength.

Ifrit had had far worse damage, and if one of Allen's tentacles had been a few inches over then he wouldn't be alive. A very guilty Bahamut, however, was there to help him, and thanks to a long verity of GF potions he was alright. His wounds were well on their way to healing, the three holes burrowed through his body hadn't completely closed yet and Squall insisted that they be at lest bandaged despite Ifrit's protest that they'd be gone in a day's time anyway. But he was still weak from the blood lost and damage that had been inflicted, with his in-human rate of healing he'd be fine in another day, but now he was too weak to do anything.

"He... He..." Ifrit grimace, narrowing his eyes. "Damnit he shouldn't have had to protect me!"

"Ifrit! There's nothing you could have done!" Squall shouted.

"I-"

"Did you do everything you could to protect me?" Squall asked, seemingly out of the blue.

"...Yes." Ifrit didn't expect that line of questioningly.

"And did you try your absolute hardest to help Griever?" Squall asked again, speaking with a harsh tone.

"Yes."

"Then there was nothing else you could have done."

Ifrit was silent again, his eyes still focused on the wall with a hard look, Squall wouldn't be surprised if it erupted in to flames. "..."

"..." Squall sighed and pushed himself up in his seat. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me." Ifrit snorted, he really didn't feel like hearing an apology.

"Look... I know you think it's your fault but there really was nothing else you could have done. Neither of you could have stopped it from happening, it was either going to be you or him."

Ifrit looked at him again, his eyes not losing any of their hardness. "Then it should have been me."

"..." Squall hesitated to speak again, what could he have said to that? "Ifrit."

"He was stronger then me."

"That's not all that matters."

"I couldn't beat that _man_!" Ifrit growled, "How can you say it didn't matter, if he wasn't protecting me then maybe he could have-"

"Maybe." Squall pointed out. "Maybe this wouldn't have happened if we were all stronger, we'll never know, so there's no use focusing on it. We have more important things to worry about, like finding him."

Ifrit looked away again, saying nothing. "..."...The fire GF's golden eyes looked toward the elevator, then junctioned himself with Squall just as the sounds of the device rising started to echo through the shaft.

The doors rolled swiftly open, and Zone, Watts and Nida to walk on to the office. "Squall?" Nida moved quickly to his desk and looked over Squall worriedly. "Squall are you alright?"

Squall pushed himself upright in his chair again, he didn't expect Nida to be here. "Nida? Zone, Watts? What are guys you doing here?"

"We had come to talk to you but uh..." Nida shifted around nervously at the subject. "Looks like we're too late."

"Yeah, I'm sure you've noticed that we were attacked yesterday." Squall told him. "A group of 48 came at around 9 in the morning and hit us with a surprise attack. We have a lot of injuries but the good news there was no casualties."

"Actually Squall." Watts started. "That's what we came to talk to you about...Well actually we had been coming to warn you but we were clearly too late."

Squall took a little more interest when he heard that, Warn? They knew? "What do you mean warn? How did you know this was coming?"

"The people who attacked you, do you know who they were?" Nida asked.

Knew? How could he forget. "They were called Gcom, some man named Allen told me he was in charge."

Nida had to make sure. He looked over to Zone, who nodded acknowledgingly and continued for him. "We went to Deling and we stole something from Galbadia, a lot of information, and some of that information was got was on Gcom. They're a Galbadian resistance group. " Zone said.

Squall nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"And from what we've learned about them they're a pretty good one, and they're about to go against Galbadia in a big way."

Squall wasn't completely understanding of this right now. "So what does that have to do with the Garden?"

"I'm getting to it." Zone told him. "But really these guys are powerful." Zone held out his hand and Nida handed him the binder, then he quickly opened it to a folded page used for a mark.Making sure it was right he laid it before Squall. "Look at that map, the areas in green represent the places Galbadia knows will be held by Gcom and the blue are places Galbadia are setting out to take control of."

Squall was starting to get an ominous sinking feeling. "...Don't tell me this means what I think it does."

Nida unfortunately nodded. "Yeah, we're about to be in the middle of a war. And if this map is any indication, larger then the last Galbadia-Esther war, and a lot more dominating. And both sides have already started."

"This Gcom group is going after Galbadia, so what does that have to do with this Garden?"

Watts picked up the binder from Squall's desk and began flipping through the pages again. "Gcom has two objectives, one is Matthew, and the other is GFs, they're collecting them."

"GFs?" Squall and Ifrit both painfully recalled Griever. "They took one from me... But why?"

Watts shrugged. "That we don't know, to fight Galbadia with I would presume."

( Squall.) Ifrit called out, an idea forming, (That paper, it holds which locations the people that captured Griever will be going right? We can use it to find him.)

'Ifrit your right...' "Watts, can I see that map again?"

! - ! - !

Cho pushed open the door to the familiar dorm and peeked around cautiously inside "Hey Zell."

The boy in question was laying half asleep on the couch, Carbuncle resting in his lap. "Huh?" He lifted his head at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name and saw Cho walking in and closing the door behind him. "Cho? What are you doing here?" He was a little disappointed, if he hoped to see anyone walk in right now it was Bahamut who'd been gone since he passed out yesterday. Ifrit informed him that Bahamut was un captured and un harmed, which left Zell unable to do anything but wait for him to come back.

"Came to warn you guys about something but...I guess you already knew." Cho said, shifting around nervously at the subject. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Zell planted his hands behind him and sat upright, causing Carbuncle to stir in his lap.

"Oh man, I wish I could have helped."

Zell didn't reply at first, he just stared at Cho for a moment with an estranged expression on his face, like he was remembering something.

"Zell? What?" Cho sat down beside Zell on the couch, wondering why he was getting that look. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing." Zell rested his hand soothingly on Carbuncle's head who woke from the agitation.

Carbuncle's ears peeked and he inanely looked up at Zell, then over to Cho. "Cho, your back?"

"Not for long." Cho smiled and petted the small GF's back. "I was really worried about you, I thought those guys might have got you."

"You know about that huh?" Carbuncle shook his head disappointedly. "They didn't take me...the took my friend though."

"GF?" Cho asked.

Zell shook his head. "Alex, He was the boy Nida was teaching to pilot the Garden."

"Why'd they take him?" Cho didn't understand that, weren't they only after GFs? "I'm sure he's fine. You'll get him back."

"Yeah." That still didn't make Carbuncle feel better.

"Don't worry, If you looking to find those guys, I have very good news."

! - ! - !

"I don't like this place." Shadow announce bluntly, his glowing red eyes shifting around uneasily as he walked down the Quad hall beside Seifer. The hall was empty compared to other parts of the Garden, a few student's lined the halls, cleaning what they could, repairing what they were able to.

The students were uneasy as the pair passed by, giving silent looks which Shadow was quick enough to notice before the person looked away. He could even smell their fear, he'd learned not to be as confident in that scent as he used to be, he'd seen what humans did when they were afraid. Not that he couldn't handle anything they could throw at him.

Seifer rubbed Shadow's head reassuringly. "Take it easy spiky, thinking about it will only make it seem worse." He was use to it by now, and he didn't take it as personally as Shadow did.

Shadow glared up at the human,"Don't call me that."

Seifer smirked in amusement, resting his hands behind his neck. "Don't worry about it, we're going to be gone soon anyway."

The two of them walked in to the Quad and looked around from the top of the stairs. Seifer didn't expect to see what he did. "Whoa..." With a look of awe on his face he walked down the stairs, trying to get a closer look. He stopped beside the stage and stared upward at the thick, black scorch marks surrounding the Quad's balcony.

There were a lot more student's here, repairing what they could.

One of the student's in particular tiredly dragged himself past the two, and managed to step on Shadow's tail by mistake. Shadow immediately looked back at him, half growling. "Watch it." It truly was an improvement, before he would have made a death threat.

"Leave me alone mutt." The boy muttered.

"Mutt?" If there was anything he hated, it was being called a dog, a mutt was even worse. "What'd you say human?"

Seifer looked down at Shadow, then at the boy. "Calm down Shadow, he doesn't know what he's saying." Truthfully the student didn't.

The 17 year old boy with short black hair and sleepy green eyes looked away, still mumbling loudly. "Leave me alone, all of this is probably your fault."He was afraid of Shadow as most were, though he didn't have a quiet fear, he had a resentful one that made him angry. Angry enough to fight a fight he wouldn't win. "You and _him_."

"Look kid, I don't have the patience to deal with people like you today." Seifer looked back at the boy fully, his hand resting on Shadow's head mainly to keep him from doing something. "So just keep walking."

Apparently he was madder then he looked. "Why don't _you_ leave?"

Seifer sighed in annoyance. "I'm warning you, keep walking."

The dark haired boy had just been beaten and his GF stolen only the previous day, he was feeling particularly horrible. Something in his mind just said to hell with it, maybe he couldn't beat a guy who turned in to a monster, but maybe he could beat Seifer. "Or what?"

Was this kid really picking a fight with him? Seifer was never one to back down from a challenge. "Or I'm gonna kick your ass, this is your last chance."

"I'm sick of you and _that_ monster." The boy shouted, by now some people were starting to notice to confrontation and were watching suspiciously. He clinched his fist tightly at his side, his weapons of choice, and readied himself to fight. "Let's see if you can really kick my ass." The boy held his arms outward promptingly, backing away from the stairs and into the open space of the Quad.

Seifer smirked, if he wanted him to do this then fine, he'd do this. "Just remember you asked for this."

Shadow stepped forward offensively and growled, but Seifer's hand resting on his head immediately pushed him back. "Seifer."

"No way Spikey, you just sit back." Seifer told him, he slipped his jacket off of him and tossed it aside, staring the boy in the face. "Alright, come on!"

The boy looked at Seifer questioningly, then around at the watching students.

Seifer noticed. "What are you looking around at them for? What, you want some help or something." He might as well get it out the way now. "Go ahead, I can take more then one."

"I'm a level 17 SeeD, I don't need help to beat _you_." The boy shouted.

"A SeeD huh?" Seifer smirk grew into a smile, he drew his gunblade and held it up. "Happy now? Either leave me alone or come on and lets get this over with."

Shadow brushed against Seifer's leg and looked him in the eyes. "I'm not going to just stand here like some _pet_." He growled.

"I told you, this is my fight." Seifer repeated, he was more afraid that Shadow would end up killing someone.

"Then I'll fight with you." The tone of Shadow's voice left no room for discussion, if he couldn't fight by Seifer's side then... The black body started to drip into a dark fluid almost as if melting until he was nothing more then a shadow on the ground. That Shadow stretched out, creeping up Seifer's legs like growing darkness caused by fading light, sliding up his body, streaking across his arms and then on to his sword.

"Shadow?" Seifer looked down at his possessed gunblade, now completely black. "Fine. Just take it easy." Seifer then looked at the SeeD, "Alright kid, what are you waiting for?"

With a twitch of his eye a nod to himself, the boy charged at Seifer with his fist drawn back, at full speed he dawned on Seifer within a few seconds and then threw a punch at him. Seifer tilted the flat edge of his sword towards him defensively and blocked the blow. Then the boy threw another punch, which again was blocked, then with mediocre skill he leapt into the air and sent a sharp kick down at Seifer. Seifer easily stepped backwards and to the side, quick enough to step behind the boy with his sword raised and slash him across the back, making him fall disorientedly to the ground with a pretty long scar left behind.

Seifer was taking it easy on him and he knew it. "Bastard." The boy rolled on to his back and pushed himself, but he didn't get farther then his knees before he felt the tip of Seifer's possessed Hyperon at his throat.

Seifer smirked, pausing for a moment to give a wordless, though victorious look at the glaring student before he extended his free hand outward towards him, 'Flare.' With a burst of red energy the boy was thrown backwards to the ground, hard.

"Alright." Seifer rested the sword on his shoulder and looked around at the crowd of watching students . "Is there anybody else, Let's get this over with now."

A rumbling clamor erupted among the gathered crowd, there voices echoing through the quad.

Seifer was getting sick of just standing there, he held out his sword and looked boredly over the black tainted blade, the metal looked as if it had been this color ever since it was forged. Interesting, he was amazed at how Shadow's possession effected things. "Come on, I know you've all been itchin' to ever since I walked through the door, here's your chance."

The calmer quieted a bit and another student stepped in front of Seifer. "Alright, I'll take you on." He said confidently. He seemed to be just as old as the other boy, with strait brown hair that came down to his ears. He held a spear, a very rare choice of weapon, and from the way he was breathing he'd run all the way back to his dorm room to get it.

Seifer snorted and rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, one? I know there's more people then that." He said, looking around at the Quad. "You guys know you wanna, come on."

At Seifer's prompting 2 more students came to the other boy's side and had been very anxious to do so, one of them was a boy with spiky red hair and a sword who was at the most 16 years old. And the second boy couldn't have been more then 15, with long blond hair tied in a low pony tail and a pair of long knives in his hands.

"Better." Seifer lifted the weapon offensively. "Now what are you guys waiting for?"

The three boy's looked at each other, a smile growing on their faces. The upper classmen bolted towards the Seifer with weapon's ready, their eyes focused on him intently.

"Stop!" Before they could reach him, a frantic voice shouted out and someone pushed their way roughly past all three of them. When the form finally made it through Cho stood in front of Seifer defensively, holding his metal rod with some skill. "Stop! Leave him alone."

"Cho, move." Seifer pressed the flat side of his sword against Cho's face and pushed him aside.

"Get the hell out of the way brat!" The oldest redhead said.

"Leave him alone!" Cho shouted back, ignoring the brat comment.

"Kid, get the hell out of here." Seifer growled.

"No way." Cho shook his head, his eyes shifting uneasily around at the three. "If anything you should leave, why are you fighting these guys."

The oldest student apparently didn't want to wait, for anybody. "Brat! Get the hell out of the way!"

"No!"Cho shook his head stubbornly, despite Seifer's constant attempts to push him out of the way, not to mention the threats of punishments to come being whispered if he didn't leave. "Leave him alone!"

"So now what?" The blond said, "Your gonna let this little kid fight for you? I guess it's fitting because the little bastard is a SeeD-" There was obvious resentment in those words, how someone so young could become a SeeD before him, and at the same rank! "And you can't even become one."

"He's not fighting _anything_ for me" Seifer growled, grabbing Cho by the hair and pulling out of his way again. "If your gonna come on then shut up and come on! Cho, get the hell out of the way!"

"What did you just call me?" Cho pried Seifer's hand off of him with the rod and regained his ground.

"Come on." The youngest member, who was still older then Cho and only a Junior classmen, "The only reason your a SeeD was because Cid felt sorry for you, or got sick of you bothering him or something like that."

Cho narrowed his eyes and held the edge of his rod outward in a ready stance. "You think I'm not a real SeeD! Alright then, I'll show you." He looked back at Seifer with an anger burning in his eyes, and Cho always seemed to find a way to do what he wanted when he was angry enough.

Seifer rolled his eyes, "Alright Cho, but don't blame me if you get hurt." He knew Cho probably wouldn't get far on his own, he had limited fighting experience. So Seifer tapped the blade of his sword, "Shadow, get the hell out of there, go help Cho." He whispered. Black liquid began flooding off of the sword in large sheets and reformed into Shadow's form. With one last look as Seifer he walked toward Cho and faded out of exsistance as he junctioned himself to the boy.

With that matter settled, Seifer remembered how sick he was of standing here. "Alright guys, come and get it."

! - ! - !

! - !- !

"Your doing really well." Irvine walked quietly behind Nida and positioned himself over his left shoulder. The two were in the training area again, fighting monsters for Irvine's demonstrational and instructional purposes.

Nida stood in front of the older boy, holding Irvine's 8 gauge, single barrel shotgun up at about collar bone level, aimed at a Grat. "Make sure it's lined up right. Ready?"

Nida nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright." Irvine took a step back, "Fire."

Nida fired,"!" but was immediately thrown off balance from the feedback. The long barrel of the weapon immediately tilted upward and Nida had to take a step back to catch himself. "Whoa!"

It hit, but not as well as Nida had hoped, most of what connected was spread fire. The formerly unaware Grat took notice of the two and turned around to face them with a loud screech. "Oh, I should have warned you about the recoil, this takes a lot more effort then handguns." Irvine reached over Nida's shoulder and pushed it back down into place, watching the angry Grat charge towards Nida. "You have to be firm, tighten your grip."

Nida cocked the slide, hearing the familiar click as the empty shells were discarded. His fingers clinched the handle and tightened themselves on the bottom of the barrel, then just as soon as he locked the muscles in his arms in place he pulled the trigger. His arms only shook lightly and the barrel stayed relatively strait despite the recoil, though it was obviously a strain for relatively weak Nida's strength. The rounds struck the plant monster directly in the chest and knocked it backwards on to the ground, killing it with the second strike.

"That's really good." Irvine patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "You aim is dead on, and your really quick about it, you were really quick those hands also, you must have had a lot of experience."

"Nope, not at all." Nida shook his head and blushed slightly from the flattery.

"Well keep practicing." Irvine gave him another small pat on the shoulder and turned away, leaving Nida to practice on his own. "Oh, and you can keep the gun."

"Huh?" Nida looked curiously down at the shotgun. "Really?"

"Yeah, I don't need it anymore." Irvine threw a small wave back. "Way I hear it your gonna need it more then me."

"Oh, you heard about by assignment?" Nida looked over the weapon with a new interest, this would be great for him. It was more powerful then the handguns, and it could hit in a much wider area, but it was much slower, and held less ammunition.

Irvine stopped and looked back. "Oh, not that. Seifer's your teammate right?"

"Yeah..." Nida nodded suspiciously.

"Well then you might wanna go down to the Quad, like now."

"W-What?"

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

Nida half jumped down the stairs of the Quad and roughly began pushing his way through the people that had gathered. "Damnit..." Nida uncharacteristicly shoved his way past the last person until he stood front and center in the crowd and could finally see what was happening. "Seifer! Cho!" He saw his two teammates facing off with another pair of Garden students, and if he looked hard enough he could see about 5 other injured classmen and SeeDs resting on the balcony, he could guess what happened

Cho didn't pay attention to Nida at all, maybe he didn't even hear him. Cho leapt into the air spinning the rod around skillfully above his head, and using that gathered momentum as he sung the metal rod into the side of the tall redhead's face. Hard enough to knock the 17year old off of his balance and send him stumbling to the ground. Satisfied with his hit Cho landed and made quick leaps back to Seifer's side.

No one got to make another move before Nida intervened, placing himself directly in between them, and gaining a disappointed chorus of moans and groans from the crowd. "What are you to doing? Why are you fighting each other?"

Seifer dropped his head and let the edge of his Hyperion fall against the ground, "Relax, we're just having a little fun." Seifer sighed, Nida didn't like the way he said that.

"Yeah, just a little fun." Cho repeated, his voice held an impishness to it, and Nida really didn't like the way he said that. A volley of agreeing voices came, either agreeing or shouting for him to move. Either way they didn't want him there.

Nida's eyes narrowed, just barely refraining from glaring at them. "Why don't you just leave them alone? Are you really that angry?"

"Get out of the way Nida." The oldest, dark haired SeeD said, motioning Nida out of the way with a wave of his spear.

"No." Nida said with out hesitation, giving not a second's regard to the object. "Why are you fighting? For Hyne's sake stop messing with them."

'Geez Nida.' Seifer lifted his hand to his head with slight annoyment, he didn't know what to think now. First Cho ran to his defense and now Nida was too, with a shotgun? Should he be thankful or pridefully offended they had to do this in the first place? Who was he kidding, he was both. "Nida, just move, I won't hurt them... too bad."

"Nida why are you protecting this traitor?" The same dark haired SeeD asked.And now it was finally out in the open. "Besides it just a harmless fight."

"Yeah Nida, why are you sticking up for this traitor?" The slightly younger red headed SeeD chimed in.

"We'll see if you keep talking like that after _Nida_ moves." Seifer threatened, lifting his sword again.

"He's my friend, so leave him alone." Nida told them, he didn't think twice about using that term for Seifer.

"Nida get out of the way, this doesn't involve you!" The older one prompted angrily. "This is between us, the traitor, that _monstrosity_ and the shrimp."

"I am not a shrimp!" Cho shouted angrily, "I am so gonna kick your ass."

Nida looked back at Cho questioningly, and when the boy said monstrosity he could only assume they meant Shadow, but why was Cho involved in this? Nida knelt down beside Cho, keeping his eye on the opposing three, "Cho, what are you doing?" He whispered chastisingly.

"You told me I'd have to prove myself." Cho whispered back, "They don't think I'm a real SeeD, so I'll just have to show them."

"_This_ is not the way to do it!"

"Well I'm not just doing it for myself." Cho shot back. "I'm doing it for Seifer and Shadow, Shadow doesn't deserve this."

"I know he doesn't. But you can't fight a battle for him, and this isn't the way to get people to change their minds about him." Nida could practically hear Shadow growling about the _fighting a battle for him_ part. "And Besides, these guys are higher ranking and stronger then you, jumping in a fight like this is a perfect way to get hurt with out a reason."

Cho scowled and looked away, unfortunately Nida was right and he knew it. Then a surprised look came to his face when Shadow unjunctioned himself from the boy, appearing in front of Nida. "Shadow-" Nida didn't even get to finish his sentence before Shadow cut him off.

"Don't even say it." Shadow barked. "No one is fighting anything for me. I don't need you Humans to protect me."

"Uh...I think you misunderstood. " Nida shook his head. "I'm not talking about physically, something completely different."

"You humans." Shadow narrowed his eyes and snorted. "You never say what you really mean, it's so foolish." Nida smiled and rubbed Shadow's head, but the growling dog leaned away. "No one's fighting anything for me."

"Just bare with me. Take it easy." Nida stood up and gave him one last pat on the head, pushing down his hears a bit as he ruffled the black fur. Shadow didn't protest this time. "Seifer-"

"No." Seifer said plainly, "We might as well get this over with now." From the sounds of the crowd they agreed, but when else would they get this kind of opportunity?

"Seifer, come on, stop this." Nida half pleaded. "There's no point to this."

"Really?" Seifer lifted his sword up and rested it against his shoulder. "It'll make me feel a hell of a lot better."

Nida shook his head, "Maybe it will, but it'll only make things worse, plus this is really stupid, stop it"

"I've dealt with this for a really long time, I've earned this." Seifer shot back in a condescending manner.

"You'll get over it, Stop it."

Seifer smirked. "Is that an order, o fearless leader?"

He knew it was pointless to even answer, Seifer would do what he wanted either way. "Yes, it is." Nida said, he was going to stand his ground.

Seifer's smirk grew into an amused smile. "Too bad. So get out of the way."

"Yeah Nida, I'm sick of standing here!" The oldest and most impatient dark haired SeeD shouted. "Get out of the way before I have to go through you!"

Nida gave one last harsh look to Seifer before he turned around to face the other boy. "No."

"I guess I'm fighting you too then!" The boy held the spear downward at his side and charged toward him, confident that Nida, the obvious non fighting type, would move.

Nida how ever wouldn't let the fight between Seifer, Cho, and the three student's persist any longer. He lifted the shotgun, locking his muscles in place to brace for feedback.

"Stop this right now."

A very different voice caused everyone to freeze and the clamor among the students to die down to silence. Nervous students moved out of the way as Squall walked through the crowd and directly in the center of the halted fight. "What the hell are all of you doing?"

The second oldest red haired SeeD rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Uh..we were just messing around...sir."

Squall felt a headache coming already. "Well if you have time for that then you have time to help clean up...All of you." Everyone immediately disbanded and began drifting off away from each other. Seeing the crowd starting to leave in nervous droves, Squall turned back towards the 4 standing behind him. "Seifer, why are you starting a fight at a time like this?"

"Lionhart, of course you got it all wrong as usual."Seifer snorted, and the accusation was the thing he did take personally. "_I_ didn't start anything, they did."

"I sure it was too much to ask _you_ to just walk away." Squall said, half sarcastically. "How could I expect that, you don't even listen to your team leader." Of course Squall had seen Seifer completely ignore Nida.

"Don't take it personal." Seifer said dismissatively, brushing right past Squall and walking away. "If you really want to talk to someone, talk to those student's of yours."

Nida dropped his head and sighed. "That's Seifer for you."

"I didn't think he'd listen to you." Squall folded his arms and tilted his head back, he had too much to deal with to focus on Seifer. "Can you-"

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it." Nida reassured him. "Seifer doesn't listen but he wouldn't do anything really rash out in the field." 'I hope.'

"What about Cho." Squall narrowed his eyes reprimandingly at Cho, who smiled uneasily and rubbed the back of his head at the harsh gaze.

"Uh...I always listen to Nida..." Cho nodded. "...most of the time."

"Cho is no problem at all." Nida told him. "So Squall, what are you going to do next?"

That part was a little unclear. "Well, I guess the only thing I can do is start checking the places on that map Gcom might show up, it's the only lead I have to go on. What about you."

"It's really up to Zone, but I'm sure we'll do the same ." Nida rested the new weapon on his shoulder and looked up thoughtfully. "I'm sure we'll find some way to go against Galbadia."

"Good luck." Squall, knowing he needed to figure out what he had to do next, and nothing else was happening, for Griever's sake he decided the best thing to do was to get back to work. So with a quick glance around at the remaining students in the Quad, he headed towards the exit. But curiously he paused when he saw Zell running his way, Carbuncle mounted faithfully on his shoulder. "The fight is over." He announced, just in case thats what he was here for.

It wasn't "That's not what I'm here for." Zell grabbed Squall by the arm and pulled him back in the opposite direction, stopping in front of Nida, Cho, and Shadow. "Remember that guy from yesterday?" He said abruptly, panting slightly from his haste to get here.

"You thought I'd forget?"

"And remember how he looked really familiar?"

Nida looked between the two questioningly "Wait? What are you guys talking about?"

"That man who said he was the head of Gcom." Zell explained. "His name was Allen Maru, and I've been trying to remember where I've seen him before."

Squall's face grew with an expression of realization, he seem to understand what Zell did, and harbored the same idea. "Cho, isn't your name Maru?"

Cho nodded."Yeah."

"First or last?"

"Last."

That wasn't something Nida was aware of. "Wait? That's your _last_ name? I didn't know that..." Thats when things, ideas, hunches started to come to his mind. "What are you trying to say?"

"I know where I saw that man before." Zell said, walking even closer to Nida and Cho, then he knelt down and pointed almost accusingly at Cho. "You."

"Me?" Now Cho was confused, "What are you talking about."

"Yeah." Carbuncle nodded, leaning forward to examine the boy's face carefully. "He's right, that guy looked _just_ like you. Like you guys were family or something."

Cho's confusion turned to nervousness. "What? Where did all of this come from?"

"Cho, what is the earliest thing you can remember?" Squall asked.

Cho shifted his eyes around uneasily, "Uh...I remember my parents...kinda, I can't remember there faces or anything like that so... And I remember ending up in a forest, after that, nothing...I-I don't understand this."

"But you remembered your name?" Nida really was starting to understand this, but he needed to see the man in question, he really needed to see this person. "How?"

"Things like that tend to stick with people." Cho replied sarcastically, "What is this, what are you guys trying to say here?"

"All of this can't mean nothing, I think this guy is related to you, and if I had to take a guess, I'd he looks like he could be your father." Squall said.

If Cho didn't get it before, he got it now. "M-my...Father?" He stared at Squall for a moment, he didn't know what to say, his mind didn't even seem to grasp the concept. "R-Really?"

"This man is the head of Gcom?" Nida scratched his head lightly and let his eyes settle on Cho, wondering why Cho didn't seem to interested it this. "If they're after Matthew then I'm sure we'll see him again...

Cho looked around at everyone, the looked thoughtfully down at the ground. "Allen Maru, I can't believe it this."

"Well nothing is for sure." Squall told him, "You'll have to figure it out for yourself if you do see him."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Seifer."

Seifer stopped when he heard the familiar voice of his client calling out for him. He took a quick look around the back of the half empty training center before glancing over his shoulder and seeing Zone running towards him, and his eyes focused inanely on Enix mounted on his shoulder. "Man, that bird hasn't fallen yet?"

"Nah, he's got a really good grip." Zone said, giving a quick look to Enix, a small queue forming in his mind that the injured bird might actually fall. '...oh man...what if he falls?' "I was looking for you, I heard you got in a fight."

"Yeah, so what." Seifer shrugged and began moving on, Hyperion resting on his shoulder.

"I wanted to see if you were alright." Zone said, following him. "Well are you?"

"Do I look hurt?" Seifer snorted. Tiring of looking for monsters, he trudged tiredly into the secret area at the very rear of the room. It wasn't so secret anymore, A really large hole had been blow in it during yesterday's attack. Besides the front gate and Quad, this was the third opening the men had come through.

Zone of course went after him, looking around in awe at the gaping void left behind. "I guess if they could blow up a train then they could easily rip a hole in the garden."

Seifer leaned against the balcony and closed his eyes, a faint idea, a question echoing in his mind. With slight interest he looked at Zone again. "What would you have done if you found me and I was still in the fight?"

:"I don't know." Zone scratched his head lightly, disrupting the short, blue strands. "I probably would have tried to break it up or something."

Seifer sighed again and looked away. 'Damnit Cho, Nida...' "So when are we getting out of here?"

"Today I guess, there's not really any other need for us to stay here."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

'I wonder what kinda books they have in here.' Watts shoved his hands in his pocket and looked around at the books that comprised the Balamb Garden library. Trudging curiously through the rows, his eyes glancing over a few titles, none of which caught his interest.

It was quiet here, not even holding the smallest noises, it was silent. No one appeared to be here, everyone was other places, doing other things in relation to what happened yesterday. It was peaceful here, a far cry from the noise outside.

Watts shifted his hat slightly as he finally came to the back of the library, and there Matthew was, a book in front of him with one elbow resting on a table and his head leaning against his hand. Who he'd been looking for. "Matthew?"

Matthew didn't look back, he just continued to stare down at the pages, not responding for a considerable amount of time. "..."

Something was wrong, Watts knew it immediately, but yet he still stood there, waiting in case Matthew decided to speak. A full moment passed by and no words came, so Watts pulled a chair beside the boy and sat down next to him, leaning over a little. "Matt?"

"I wonder..." Matthew lifted his other hand on to the table and turned the page. "Maybe if I had come here instead..." His paused again, his voice holding a forlorn tent to it, and he spoke almost as if he didn't even hear Watts. "Maybe if I had come to Balamb things would have been different then they were at Galbadia."

"..." Watts didn't say anything, he just watched the boy and wondered what brought this line of thought on. What could he really say to him, he didn't want to tell him the truth of the matter.

Matthew sat up strait and closed the book. "Nah, who am I kidding, I still would have been stupid enough to tell them." And that was the truth of the matter Watts avoided.

Watts rubbed his back consolingly. "Don't think that way, there's no point"

"Yeah I guess, I just wonder what would have happened if I actually got to stay in my old Garden..."

"Well there's nothing I can do about that, but just think about how hard it would have been not being able to tell anyone." Watts reasoned. "Your bound to slip up sometimes, did you really wanna go around hiding it all your life?"

"Yes." Matthew nodded without hesitation. "None of this wouldn't be happening if I would have. Galbadia or those other guys wouldn't have been after me if I had just kept my mouth shut."

"..." Watts sighed to himself, he wish he knew what to say, what could he say, Matthew was probably right. "I know this is really hard for you, having to go through all of this. But it's not all bad... is it?"

"..." Matthew's black eyes slowly drifted to Watts, anger and sadness were driving him to say yes, he could have easily said yes. But... he did have Watts and Zone, and they were great, the only thing he had of a family, the only people he had. And they did everything they could to make him happy, despite the complaining and fighting, Zone would do anything Matthew asked him too. "No... I'm sorry Watts, I didn't mean you guys."

Watts smiled and ruffled Matthew's hair, which always brought the same reaction out of him, an annoyed expression came on to Matthew face and he pushed Watts' hand away. "Stop doing that."

"I can't help it, a kid like you-"

"I'm not a kid." Matthew pouted in a child like manner, it didn't help his argument.

"Your only 13, your not even a teenager yet." Watts pushed himself up on to his feet and stretched his arms above his head. "We're leaving, you ready?"

Matthew stared down at the at book sitting in front of him, his expression dropping again and his demeanor growing quiet. "I wonder...maybe if I just started over and enrolled here, maybe I could..."Matthew gremanced and shook his head. "No, I couldn't...Galbadia and those Gcom guys..." His voice trailed off and his expression hardened, his eyes narrowing angrily. "Why can't I just be normal? How come I have to be like this?"

"Matthew..."Watts sat down beside the boy again, he knew that look, he knew that loss for words... "Don't worry, all of this will be over with soon... I promise, I won't let either of them lay a finger on you."

"No." Matthew shook his head. "I'm sick of this, I don't want to sit back and watch you guys get hurt for me, I wanna fight them."

"I thought you wanted to be normal."

"I...I can't have that!" Matthew shouted and abruptly stood up, the clattering sound of his chair loudly falling to the ground and his voice echoing through out the empty library. "At lest let me have this one thing! I don't want to be helpless!"

Watts stared at him, his mouth stalling open slightly with words he wanted to say but couldn't. He just sat there, stuttering blankly until a response could form in his mind. "I understand that, but you have to be patient."

"Patient! Galbadia isn't going to be patient, Gcom isn't going to be patient! This is my life! Don't I at lest..." Matthew stopped when he realized that he was screaming at Watts, Zone he could shout at with out a problem, but Watts...His head dropped and he felt tears forming in his downcast eyes at the thoughts he was having, his fist clinched at his side so tightly that they were trembling. "Don't I at lest..."

Watts laid a hand on his shoulder, feeling the boy wince under his touch and the first of his tears start to fall. "I know... I know what it's like for your life to be in someone else's hands, not to be able to even be allowed to fight for it. But you have to understand it's for the best, it really is."

Matthew clinched his eyes shut and threw his arms around Watts, quiet sobs forcing their way through his mouth as he burred his face in Watts' shoulder. "..." Watts rested his hand on Matthew's back and tred his best to calm the boy down, but there wasn't much he could really say to him, if anyone was allowed to cry it was him, if anyone had a right to be angry. "It'll be over soon, don't worry..."

! - ! - !


	12. Chapter 12: Hopes and Fears

Chapter 12: Hopes and Fears

!- ! - !

This chapter is kinda long, but I threw some Yaoi in the middle to soften the blow, and as a thanks for the long wait. enjoy!

! - ! - !

"What a day..." Watts sighed, sinking down in his seat at the strategy room table. He watched as the other 3 members of the Timber Owls crew worked over it with scrutinizing detail, the engineer, system analyst, and technician had been working since Zone and the rest of his team had left this morning for the Garden. Their task had been a familiar one, building a model of the world map, and when Zone and Watts returned they helped out with it as much as possible.

Zone sat on the other side of the table, earning himself at lest a short reprieve from working. Enix sat on his shoulder like always, watching everything taking place curiously. He was used to being silent, when he was in that cage he was forced to be quiet by Galbadian solders that got annoyed easily and hit hard.

"Yeah, I never thought things would get this serious so fast." Zone leaned back in his chair and watched the three men converse among themselves about their current work. The model was starting to take shape, land masses that were to scale, water, cities and a lot of blue and green, for obvious reasons. "Hey, where's Matt, he loves doing these things."

"He's in his room." Watts told him, a hint of disappointment in his voice when he spoke about it. "I guess taking him with us to the Garden wasn't a good idea, it made him really depressed when he had to leave."

Zone dropped his head, a sense of uneasy reluctance coming about on the subject, staring down at the model, "Yeah, it most be hard for him."

"He's jealous you know." Watts titled his head back, staring up at the ceiling with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'll bet." Zone nodded. "I feel really bad for him... But with the way things are going it'll be over soon right? Maybe after we get Galbadia off of him, he can give it another shot, at school you know."

"He's lost a lot of time." Watts added.

"He's a smart kid, he'll do fine." Zone waved discardingly, a small smile coming to his face, "Speaking of this being over...what do we do now?"

Watts let his eyes fall back on Zone, blinking in confusion. "Uh...well, I uh...Isn't that your call sir?"

Zone folded his arms, his vision fixed on the map being built in front of him. "It is I guess...But your the information guy, you could at lest drop a guess."

Watts shifted his eyes around nervously, he had nothing. "Uh...Um...Well it doesn't matter what I say, the final decision is yours sir."

Zone had nothing either, neither one of them had a clue what to do next. Zone looked up poutingly to Enix. "He's no help."

Enix only tilted his head to the side and cooed questioningly, he had no idea what either one of them was talking about.

"Your no help either." Zone sighed, dropping his head again.

"Well sir, you should probably base your next move on what you want to know." Watts suggested. "What's your biggest question?"

"Well in that case, I can't decided on just one." Zone said, all of this was so confusing. "Like why does Galbadia want Matthew in the first place, what do they plan to do with him? And who are these Gcom guys, why is Galbadia so afraid of them?"

"You should probably focus yourself on one group at a time sir. It might be easier that way."

Watts was right, there were too many questions about Galbadia to move on to Gcom. "Then our focus is definitely Galbadia... I don't think we'll be able to go back to Deling right now, security is gonna be too tight. So we should go to the place Galbadia's going, maybe warn somebody or set up some type of preemptive, we might be able to get some answers that way." Zone reasoned.

"That's perfect sir."

"So where would that place be?"

"Uh..."

! - ! - !

Nida endured the wind pushing against his body, causing ripples across his clothing and ruffling his mid ranged hair to the side wildly. He reached up and grabbed ahold of the small ledge protruding from the side of the roof and pushed himself up out of the door, up to the top of the moving train.

It was bright up here, the sun beamed uninhibited over head from the cloudless sky, and warm as it looked. The noise wasn't as blaring as Nida expected it to be, he would have guess being a top of a train reeling at high speeds over steel tracks would be loud, he hadn't noticed the last time. And the view of the wide open plans filled with long grass that waved in the wind were expansive. And Nida could see why this would be a good spot for someone to come to be alone.

"Seifer." Nida pushed himself off his knees and stood to his feet, taking slow, confident steps across the moving surface. He found the other boy near head of the train, sitting silently with his arms resting on drawn in knees.

Seifer glanced over his shoulder acknowledgingly, then looked outward again. "What, you come up here to give me hell about what happened back in the Garden." Seifer snorted discardingly.

"When have I ever done that?" Nida slipped his hand in his pockets and stood over Seifer, looking outward at the land rolling past the railroad tracks.

"Come on, I know your pissed." Seifer said expectantly, a bit of amusement in his voice. "You were about ready to shoot me."

"I was mad at the time." Nida admitted, but he could never really stay mad at anyone, he felt completely incapable of it. Maybe it came from when he was a younger and didn't have too many friends, he wanted people to like him, and was lonely enough to probably have done anything someone asked if it would help them like him better. If they liked him better they;d be his friends, the best it did was get him know for being nice, it really backfired in away. Sure people liked him better, but he was still alone, a lonely person that knew a lot of other people. He was no longer that naive, but some of that mentality was most definitely left over from years past.

Seifer didn't respond for a moment, now that he thought about it he had never seen Nida stay mad at anyone for more the an hour. He'd seen Nida frequently, he was good friends with Raijin. Nida was always the one to help him out in class, since Raijin didn't always have the easiest time studying or on tests, and Raijin, being the most physical of the two, was always the muscle. Sure they had had augments, but it seemed like just as quickly it was like had never happened.

"Why didn't you listen to me?" Nida asked, his voice was soft and curious, almost as if he wasn't pressing the issue, just a simple conversation piece.

Seifer laugh lightly to himself, was he really asking this question? "I didn't want on Nida, your smarter then that."

"That's not what I'm asking." Nida shook his head. "Why didn't listen to me?"

Seifer didn't understand the question at first, he looked back over his shoulder at Nida who held the same calm expression he always had... Then after a few seconds he finally understood it, it was never simple with Nida, Nida always wanted a deeper answer. "I don't know, I guess I just don't like being bossed around." He said snidely.

"Seifer." Nida paced around softly, looking toward the opposite end of the train. "Why didn't you listen to me?"

"Tch. Yeah it's so easy for you to say." Seifer rolled his eyes, "You can just come in and say stop, like that makes a difference."

Nida turned around towards Seifer, looking down at him silently.

"In case you didn't notice, they were the ones that started the damn fight in the first place, if they started it, why can't I finish it?"

"What good would that do?" Nida asked. "There was no point."

"That's bull, they keep starting it with me, everybody starts it with me. What the hell do you mean there was no point!" Seifer growled.

"You think fighting will make a difference in how they think of you?"

"I don't care what they think about me." Seifer shrugged. "But if they wanna fight with me then-"

Nida shook his head with a sigh, "Seifer you don't get it...People don't like you, some of them probably never will."

"Yeah, like I didn't know that."

"They think your nothing more then a traitor who's gonna do nothing more then hurt them and cause trouble." Nida stated bluntly. "And...if you just go around fighting them, even if they bait you into it, your just gonna prove everyone right. You'll _give_ them a reason to think of you like that."

"..." Seifer didn't reply at first, he just glared strait ahead with a hard look before speaking again. "So what are you saying Nida, if I just don't say anything and walk away that's gonna change? You can't be that naive."

"I'm not saying that, just don't prove them right. Don't give them anymore reason." Nida said. "I know your not what everyone says you are, you just have to prove it to them through your actions. "

"And if that doesn't work?" Seifer inquired, just waiting to prove Nida wrong.

"Then...just be satisfied knowing they're wrong, you seem to be good at stuff like that." Nida said.

"Right, whatever." Seifer shrugged.

Nida didn't press the issue any farther, he wouldn't get anywhere else with Seifer, at lest not right now. And knowing Seifer came up here to be alone, he headed back towards the side door.

"...So, were you really gonna fight those guys?" Seifer asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Yeah." Nida knelt down above the side door and began climbing down carefully. "If it came to that."

"They were running right at us, it was already there." Seifer said with that familiar amusement in his voice.

"Then I guess I was." Nida said supposingly, before pulling himself back inside.

Seifer just smirked, he'd never thought he'd see someone run to his defense like that, and Nida of all people.

! - ! - !

Zone slowly peaked his head into Matthew's room, knocking on the door from the outside to alert him of his presence. "Matt?" He called out softly, peering around in Riona's former room. He had to say, it was a lot darker then when she occupied it. Every thing was blue, which was understandable since Matthew's favorite color was blue.

Zone could remember when Watts had first asked him what he wanted in his bed room, and Matthew commented he wanted everything to be the same color as Zone's hair.

"Matt." Zone found the boy laying curled up in his bed, staring at the wall silently. The boy looked down at Zone, then continued to stare at the wall, Zone knew the expression he had on his face well. The boy's features held a silent contemplation to them, like he was thinking hard about something serious, maybe he was.

Zone slowly walked over to the bed, looking over Matthew's sleeping form silently for a few seconds before he sighed deeply and sat down atop the soft blue covers the same color as his hair. Then he allowed his body to fall back and laid his body completely on the bed, folding his arms with the same serious look Matthew held growing on his face as he occupied the space beside the boy.

Neither of them said anything, just laying in silence while the ambient sounds of the train's wheels streaming along the tracks drifted through the room. "It's hard." Zone finally said. "It really must be hard for you."

Matthew didn't say anything, still staring strait ahead. "..."

"I know you wanna do a lot of things but you can't." Zone said in his best effort to console the boy. "I'm sorry about that."

"That doesn't help me." Matthew said bitterly. "You won't let me do anything."

Zone was quiet for a few seconds, knowing Matthew was right. "...I know, I couldn't let you."

"Why not?" Matthew rolled over and looked up at Zone, an sudden anger burning in him. "I couldn't do anything! I never could do anything!"

"I told you, I would have let you but it was too dangerous." Zone said almost pleadingly, trying to make him understand his position.

"It was always too dangerous!" Matthew shouted angrily, he sounded like he was on the verge of crying. "I never could..." He honestly didn't mean to scream at first, he was so angry... "I never could do anything!"

"It wasn't safe enough!" Zone shouted back, as usual he started yelling too. "I told you that, it's not my fault!"

"It's never safe!" Matthew cried out "I don't care about that, I've never been safe! All I wanted was just to be allowed to do at lest something normal kids do...I don't care about the risk."

Zone sighed, staring up at the ceiling with a long pause. "I'm really sorry about that. I just don't want something to happen to you."

"I...I know." Matthew rolled over again, faceting the wall with his back to the man. "I get it, I really do...You just want to protect me..I just wish I was normal..."

Zone felt a pang of remorseful guilt, he couldn't do anything about that.

"Hey, where's Enix?" Matthew finally asked, though he still didn't look at Zone.

"With Watts, he's try to give him a bath." Zone said, another pause followed as he tilted his head towards the opposite wall. "You know...I was talking to Squall today." He said. "And uh... when this is all over...I got him to let you enroll at Balamb Garden."

Matthew froze, did he hear what he thought he heard? The boy rolled over towards Zone, a cautious hopefulness building visibly on his face. "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh." Zone nodded. "If you wanna go-"

"Of course I wanna go!" He exclaimed excitedly, this was so sudden, he didn't expect this,he never felt so happy in his life, he had to resist the urge to jump up on the bed. So instead he dived on Zone, wrapping his arms around the man with a tight hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Zone laughed, slipping an arm around Matthew's back and ruffling the black strands of his hair. "Heh Heh, you deserve it."

"Oh man, I can't believe it." Matthew settled contently, his mind buzzing with thoughts of what it would be like, what he would do, what he _wouldn't_ do. He hugged Zone even tighter, closing his eyes and resting his head on the man's chest, he was just too happy to let go. "Oh wait a minute, what about you guys, I can't leave you guys." As much as Matthew wanted to be normal and go to the Garden, he didn't think he could leave Zone and Watts, they were like family to him, they were family. Of what variation he couldn't describe but family none the less.

Even if he didn't go to the Garden, the offer was a sign of approaching normalcy that he wanted so desperately.

"Don't worry about us." Zone reassured him. "We'll visit every day. It'll be just like we live there."

"Zone..." Matthew hugged him tighter, he didn't know what else to say besides thank you.

! - ! - !

"Man... is it just me, are you hungry too?" Cho stretched his hands upward with a small yawn and scratched his head sleepily. He came with sloppy steps into the kitchen after awakening from a nap, his clothing were in slight disarray and he clearly wasn't completely awake yet.

Shadow laid in the center of the dark room, his form barely visible, little more then a small outline with glowing red eyes with out the lights on. He didn't say anything, he just watched Cho in his usual silently way, observing. And he noticed a few things.

Shadow never understood how humans could be at ease so much, by all means they were in a dangerous situation, they could be attacked by this Galbadia, who Shadow gathered was a dangerous force, at any time. Yet all of them had their guard down, looking at Cho was a perfect ensample. Sleep while someone kept watch was exceptable as long as one still maintained a level of awareness, but no one was on guard, Cho wasn't even on guard, he could see it in every movement the boy made.

Strange.

Cho didn't bother to go over to the refrigerator, he just walked strait over to Shadow and sat down beside the wolf. "It's dark in here."

"I'm aware." Shadow replied with his usual callousness.

"I guess you don't like the light very much." Cho lifted his hand to his mouth as another yawn forced it's way out. "I've been wondering, aren't you bored just sitting around all the time?"

"Bored?" Shadow looked up at him questioningly, then thought for a moment, from what he'd heard of everything human's said he could piece together what it meant. And he most definitely wasn't bored, watching these humans, trying to figure out and understand their actions, their tendencies, he could could spend hours thinking about it. He had a very inquiring mind. "No."

"Come on, you must wanna do something." Cho said. "You don't know anything about this place right, don't you wanna try some things out?"

"Uninterested." He said simply, closing his eyes and turning his head away.

"Your not at all curious?" Cho asked temptingly, or it just came out that way because he was sleepy, Shadow wasn't sure.

"No."

Cho let his eyes drift close, his body sitting completely still. "There are a lot of great things in this world that you haven't even heard of, like food, you like food right?"

"Not so far." Shadow hadn't encountered anything he particularly liked, most of what he had eaten was cooked food, he much more preferred the raw meat of a hunt to some of things he'd ingested here.

"Oh come on, there are allot of really good food, like ice cream. Oooo, I could really go for some strawberry and vanilla right now..."

Vanilla? Shadow's ears perked and he lifted his head, "Vanilla?" If it was anything he encountered here that he liked it was the scent of the vanilla shampoo Cho used to wash his fur, and the actual act of Cho washing his fur, that felt _really_ good. And Seifer, he liked Seifer, and Nida, and Cho, not to mention the learning experience he was gaining.

"Yeah, there are a lot of Vanilla stuff." Cho opened his eyes half way, noticing that Shadow seem to take an interest now. "You see, this place isn't _so_ bad."

Point taken.

"..." Shadow just accepted it in silence and let his rest back down on the ground.

Cho lifted his hand to his mouth and yawned again, feeling the familiar pull of sleep. With out a second though the boy stretched his arms over his head and laid down against the soft fur of Shadow's body, curling up slightly into the warmth.

Shadow didn't mind, he had to admit he liked this too. There was something about this simple action, the feel of Cho's body against his, the warmth of resting flesh, the soft, slow breaths coming sleep from the boy. Or maybe it was nothing physical about it, all of was mental. This action was affectionate, it made Shadow feel like he was at the perfect place to protect him against anything, and it was so trusting, Cho simply cuddling a dangerous creature such as him with no doubt or worry.

Shadow had never encountered actions like this before, in his world there was nothing remotely comparable to this. The closest thing there was to love was lust, this was still a gray area for him, love, something completely and unequivocally human. What was it that made a person take that level of favor, that extent of devotion, that feeling that made you feel unable to stay away from them for long periods? How and why did something like this exsistant, it was a weakness, so why was it people allowed it to happen. Love, affection, he still had to keep watching to get a better understanding of the two, among his other questions.

For now he'd just lay back and allow Cho to sleep, he enjoyed it enough, and if no one else was on guard then he'd pay attention and stay on watch himself. Then he could protect Cho, they were partners right? Wasn't that the word he used? And that's what partners did wasn't it?

"I can't believe it...this guy could really be my dad." Cho said out of the blue, the rising sleep present in his voice. "I wonder what he's like..."

"Who are you talking about?"

"My dad, I can't wait to meet him..."

"Is this really that important to you?" Shadow asked. "This father of yours. Why does it concern you so much?"

Cho opened his eyes slowly and stared through the darkness surrounding them, a sense of sadness came at the thought. Something like this that brought up so many unwanted feelings in him, he wouldn't share with anyone, he didn't even divulge his feelings on the matter with Nida. But Shadow, he felt safe with Shadow, Shadow knew nothing of humans and this world, of the way their lives worked anyway, he wouldn't get an undesired response from him and if he did it would matter too much. He wouldn't be thought of any differently by Shadow for not being his usual carefree, impish, determined self that wouldn't let anything get to him like this. Shadow held the same view of all humans, telling him this wouldn't change anything.

"I wanna know what happened to me." Cho said seriously, from his voice it could be heard that he was sure of this and was sure a long time ago.

The depressing tent of his voice made Shadow's ears limp slightly and an unwanted shutter crawl through his skin He didn't like to hear Cho sound this way, it reminded him of what he did to the boy...

Cho closed his eyes and dug his finger into Shadow's soft black fur, clinching it needly. He could feel it starting to grow back, gaining some length to it since Nida had cut it. "I wanna know why they left me there...and I wanna meet him, I wanna know about my dad."

"Is it that important to you?" Shadow asked, clearly not understanding of why Cho was so fixated with this enough with this to make him sad. If something made him sad then there was no point in dwelling on it, "This is foolish, having such a desire to just meet someone, there's no reason for it."

"Yes there is." Cho said defensively. "I need too..."

"It's not needed, the thought of a simple person shouldn't make you this weak. You should forget about it."

"It's important!" Cho abruptly lifted his head and shouted, his eyes wide in anger, making Shadow flinch slightly. "It's important to me..."

"I don't understand you humans." Shadow closed his eyes and tilted his head away. "Why, if something makes you this weak and off guard, makes you needlessly go out of your way, you should deal with it. "

Cho sighed, slowly letting his head come to rest on Shadow's back and curling up even closer to the wolf. "You don't get it Shadow, I can't just forget about something like this."

"Is someone you never even seen nor heard of that important to you?" Shadow asked. "Why? Why are these things important to Humans? It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know." Cho shrugged. "People... People need each other, people need people like their parents...it's not good to be alone, it..." Cho stared into the darkness again, a small pause forcing it's way between his words. "Being alone hurts." he admitted.

Being alone hurts...

Shadow didn't respond, his mind completely settled on those words, being alone hurts. He didn't know why, but he found himself pulling closer to Cho. "And about wanting to know what happened to you?" Shadow asked. "Why do you wish to focus on events that have already happened?"

"Because I have to know what happened to me." Cho said, "I have to have a reason for it, I need to know why."

'I don't understand this, what's the point?' Shadow couldn't comprehend the need to focus on the past, it wasn't like it could be changed, there is no point to it. So why did humans spend so much time on it? Shadow scowled to himself, letting his eyes open and resting on Cho. Why did Cho?

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"So, this is what it comes too." Zell sighed, folding his arms and looking down at Squall with uncertainty. He stood over Squall's desk, Carbuncle resting on his shoulder and Bahamut junctioned to him. Squall sat on the other side of his desk, Ifrit junctioned to him, the map he'd gotten from Zone's team blown up and rolled over it's surface. "So what are we doing?"

Squall looked up at Zell with a quirked eyebrow, was he seriously asking that question? "We're going to get Griever and Alex back."

"No, not that. I know that." Zell shook his head, folding his arms. "After that, what are we going to do? I mean we can't just let these guys get away with this, we have to stop them. Hyne knows what they're doing to the GFs they capture. And to themselves, I've never seen a human that can change into a monster."

Squall sighed, looking away. "I know... I just don't know what we can do, this seems bigger then we can handle."

"Come on Squall, if we can handle a sorceress in another time then we can handle this."

Squall shook his head, Zell didn't seem to realize a few set backs. "But we couldn't handle Allen." Squall said. "And neither could our GFs. He captured _Griever, _you remember fighting Griever don't you? He held his own against all of us and our GFs."

And that was the set back.

One which Zell had forgotten about "Yeah... But that's even more a reason that we have to stop theses guys, if we can't fight them, who can?"

(Galbadia.) Ifrit commented.

Which Squall took note of. "Galbadia is their enemy, why don't we let both sides cancel each other out."

(We couldn't do that...) Bahamut said, the first thing he'd said since the attack the previous day. (The whole world is in the cross fire, it would be too risky to sit around and do nothing.)

Zell relayed Bahamut's words, as well as his own. "Besides, if we can't beat Allen now, how are we suppose to beat the winner?"

Squall looked down at the map, noting that everything was divided, and curiously that Balamb Garden was under Gcom's color. In fact so was Tribria, Galbadia still retained their Garden though. Gcom would get even more GF's that way, because if Balamb couldn't stand up to them, there was no way Tribria could, even if it was newly rebuilt and the enrollment count over the last 2 years was higher then their own. "..." He could just imagine what happened here happening there, it would be a disaster, and Tribria couldn't take anymore of those.

Then he could just think of all of the places just like Tribria, that couldn't hope to handle a war.

"Your right... we have to do something about them." Squall agreed. "We need to find away to stop them, or else they'll do to other places what they did to us, maybe worse."

"Yeah." Zell agreed. "We can do this."

"I'm not so sure..." Squall, the more realistic among them, had no clue how they could stand up to Gcom. "Well our first priority is Alex and Griever, then after that we have to do something about Allen."

"Hey wait..." Carbuncle intervened. "Isn't Allen...isn't he Cho's father? Can we really go after him like that?"

"We don't know that for sure." Squall commented. "If we find out otherwise then we'll reassess things."

"Ok I guess..."

"Don't worry about it. We'll figure it out." Zell rubbed Carbuncle's head reassuringly. "So is that all?"

"Oh, one more thing." Squall said, his eyes focused on the map. "We're starting at FH tomorrow, we don't have a choice, we need repairs. And that might be Gcom's next move. We leave early so be ready."

Zell turned towards the elevator, throwing a small acknowledging wave back before he stepped inside and left the office.

Squall leaned back in his chair, resting his hand on his chest as he let out a deep breath. He was completely expectant when he felt Ifrit unjunctioning himself and appeared beside him, the GF didn't say a word.

"Ifrit."

"..."

Squall tilted his eyes toward the fire GF who silently stood with his back turned, staring upward through the cockpit window. He could see the last rays of dusk fading as the darkness of night started to take effect.

He waited patiently, knowing Ifrit wanted to say something.

There was a long stretch of silence before he finally did speak. "...I'm afraid."

"Afraid?" That was the last thing he expected to hear from Ifrit. "Of what?"

"I'm afraid for Griever." Ifrit clarified. "Griever is the strongest person I know, no matter how much I tried, no matter how long, I could never catch up to him, I still can't. If...If he couldn't stop this Allen man, what chance do I have?"

"We." Squall said simply.

"What?"

"We." He repeated. "This isn't a solo endeavor, we're both fighting for him."

"But even together we couldn't do it." Ifrit said, completely dishartened.

And that's when Squall realized something, that's how he must have sounded... "Ifrit..." Squall slowly pushed himself up from his seat, walking to Ifrit's side with slow, thoughtful steps. "I never thought I'd be hearing doubt from you, you were always the one encouraging me when I wanted to give up."

"..." Ifrit didn't respond.

But honestly Squall couldn't blame him for feeling that way, he'd feel that way too if he'd seen the same thing happen to Ifrit that Ifrit saw happen to Griever. In fact he still felt that way a little."Remember back when we were first starting out, and we had that argument back at FH, and you asked me what I was fighting for?"

"Yes."

"I really thought about that for a long time, and I realized that...I was fighting for you."

Ifrit glanced over towards him curiously. "Me?"

"You were so strong, and you always seemed so sure of what to do, even at the worst times. I would have given up so many times if it hadn't been for you, you kept me going." Squall paused, staring up at the stars through the wide windshield of the cockpit with an expression of his own realizations. "We've been defeated before, there were times when I thought the problems we had to face were completely impossible. But you, you always told me we could do it, you always gave me enough not to quit, even if you had to nearly force me to keep going. "

"..."

"We lost plenty of times, to enemy's I thought were impossible for us to win against, but we always did it in the end."

"Nothing compares to this Squall, this person...he beat us in only 13 minutes." Ifrit said doubtfully.

"I can tell you something that compares to this."

Ifrit looked down at him curiously. "What?"

"Time compression." Squall smirked to himself, for some reason the memory amused him slightly now. "I was terrified the first time, and a was even more afraid when we were on our way back and I was completely alone. You could have been anyplace at any second in time, and after Ultimenica... after she nearly killed you I was afraid it was all pointless, and I'd only get lost and never make it back. But we made it though something impossible."

Ifrit had to admit, he never imagined anything he'd go through any of the things he'd went through with Squall. How many times he'd come so close to death, or whatever it was lay beyond time compression. "..." The flame GF folded his arms and looked down thoughtfully.

"We can do this." Squall said simply. "We'll find away." He was starting to become worried when he didn't get an answer, he stood in front of Ifrit, look up at the taller form firmly into the pricing golden eyes. "Your not gonna give up are you?"

Ifrit looked down at Squall with some confusion, and then as soon as he got over the questioning a smirk grew on to his face, snowing his fangs. "I would never give up...but thank you anyway." Ifrit wrapped his arms around Squall and pressed their lips together in a soft kiss before Squall could begin to feel any unwanted feelings when he realized his words were mostly if not all unneeded.

And Squall didn't resist in the slightest, he leaned back into the familiar embrace of strong arms around his back, letting himself relax in the constant warmth of Ifrit's body. His arms slipped around Ifrit's neck and he let his mouth drift open, feeling the larger tongue licking at his lips, waiting for admittance, patiently slip inside his mouth.

"Uh..." Squall tilted his head back as he pulled back from the kiss, feeling Ifrit bite down softly on his bottom lip with piercing fangs, softly licking at the captured flesh while his claws dug into the fabric of the jacket around Squall's back. He nearly tore it off, but Squall managed to slip it off of himself and toss it aside before the GF managed to do so.

Ifrit leaned down farther, softly kissing and licking down Squall's neck with an unexpected gentleness, his fangs gently racking across the sensitive skin. "Uha..." Squall let out a small breath, his hands pressed against Ifrit's chest almost as if pushing him away, feeling along the toned stomach that always seemed to hold a certain level of heat to it. The skin grew warmer and warmer as he went downward, his fingers becoming entangled in the fiery red sheath shrouding the half hard length.

Ifrit felt the heat inside of him begin to stir at the touch that wasn't his own, a small jolt rushed though his body, causing a small growl to slip from his throat. Squall began unbuckling his pants, tilting his head back as he felt Ifrit softly nipping along his collar bone. He could feel heat from the hot, warmth of Ifrit's breath along his chest as the Fire GF's tongue made soft licks across his nipples.

Squall pushed his pants down and almost immediately afterwords he felt Ifrit's hands take hold of his now bare waist as if waiting for that action to be taken. Ifrit dropped to his knees and the warm tongue left a wet trail behind as the GF ran it down his stomach, across his waist, and teasingly down the bottom of Squall's hardened cock. "?" He paused there, looking up at Squall with eyes silently inquiring a question the boy knew already. Squall wasn't completely sure what Ifrit would do next, he never was, but he simply gave a small nod in wanting agreement.

Ifrit slipped his hands underneath Squall's legs and lifted one on to his shoulder, slowly easing Squall on to the ground and laying him on his back. An impish smirk crossed his lips as he lent down and pressed his mouth against Squall's entrance. His fingers tightened their grip on Squall's elevated leg resting on his shoulder subconsciously as he thrust his tongue past the tight ring muscles and into the delicate inner walls.

"I-Ifrit..." Squall shifted around a bit from the teasing sensations washing through his body in waves, soft, weak moans slipped from his clinched mouth despite his best attempts at stifling them. Ifrit gently ran the tip of his tongue against the top of the inner soft muscles, stimulating the passage way with skillfully delicate licks, then suddenly and forcefully thrusting the large tongue in and out of the hole. "Unnaa!" Squall grimaced and reached down into the fiery red hair atop the other male's hair, grabbing on Ifrit's horns and arching upward.

'Hmm...' The golden eyes rolled over Squall's body from the awkward position, he loved eliciting such needy reactions from the stoic boy. He gave one last, long lick across the ring muscles of Squall's entrance before he pulled back, slipping his horns from Squall's grip. '...' He paused for a moment, pulling Squall's leg on his shoulder closer as he took in the sight of the human laying panting below him with audible breaths, sweat soaking the white shirt covering his torso.

Ifrit rested his free hand on Squall's chest and moved forward, pressing his now fully hard erection against Squall's wet entrance. Pushing the tip in almost tauntingly before pausing. "Ready?" He asked, Ifrit had a way of being oddly delicate and rough at the same time.

Squall gave another small nod, waiting with an anxious energy as the taller male slowly pushed the hard length into him. Squall groaned softly in pain, his eyes clinching shut and his hands curling into tight fist as the cock slid easily into his body, stretching him around the hard flesh. "Uhha..." Squall's head fell back onto floor as Ifrit receded and pushed the considerably larger cock into his body again. He could feel the heat drifting off of the larger form and enveloping him, and the warmth of Ifrit's member soothing it's own pain.

"Squall." Ifrit let out his own groan at the tightness hugging him with every movement, he gave another harder thrust and Squall's tightness nearly swallowed his cock halfway. He growled with a low rumbling and forced himself to halt.

"Huh?" Squall forced one eye open in questioning, watching as Ifrit pushed his leg off of his shoulder. The same impish smirk returned as Ifrit reached down,wrapped his arms around Squall's back and pulled the boy in into his lap, their chests pressing together in a swift heat, thrusting upward into the warm tightness. "I-Ifrit..."Squall quickly grabbed ahold of Ifrit's shoulder before he lost his balance, letting his head rest on top of the soft red hair of Ifrit's. "Uhnn..."

Squall wrapped his legs around Ifrit's waist and take whole of the Fire GF's horns. The darker flesh intertwined with the paler skin in single movements in unison, until with one last drive upward from the large cock, Squall came. He cringed, burying his face into Ifrit's hair with a loud grunt as he came, sending his cum jetting from the twitching member and onto the heated expanses of Ifrit's stomach.

Ifrit hugged Squall's body closer, pushing him down roughly as he drove his cock up in to the rigged body with one final thrust. He roared loudly as his seed expelled from him volumes, quickly over flowing out of the tightness, hot to the touch. Easing away the pain.

! - ! - !

Zell rested his hand on Carbuncle's head, gently rubbing his fingers softly across the half sleep GF's laying in his lap. Carbuncle relaxed familiarly, his half-lidded eyes focusing barely. When he was in Zell's lap like this nothing could make him worry, not Alex, not Gcom, nothing, he was amazed at how Zell could do that to him.

Zell subconsciously continued to pet Carbuncle, but his eyes were fixed on Bahamut standing before him. He had to stop Bahamut from simply going off on his own tonight, which he'd done all of yesterday, and had barely said a word to the boy when he finally did return. "Bahamut." Zell spoke with obvious concern in his voice. "We have to talk."

Bahamut sighed inwardly, but still managed to keep his firm external appearance as always. He was never one to recede from things, so he didn't, no mater how much he didn't want to have this conversation. "Fine."

Carbuncle's ears perked and with out warning he stood up in Zell's lap, "I'll...be back." He said simply, unable to conjure up an excuse to leave, he didn't want to be here for this, even with out his memory he knew he didn't need to be here. So with his mind focusing on it's own thoughts, Carbuncle crept sleepily to the door of Zell's dorm and slipped out of it, making sure to pull it closed behind him.

Zell shifted his hands through the stray blonde strands of his hair, not knowing if he should be content that Carbuncle left them alone or dishartened because he wanted to keep him close. "Bahamut, you've been acting really strange lately, you've been avoiding me completely." Zell said, looking up at the dragon seriously. "Why?"

"I've simply been thinking." Bahamut responded indifferently.

"About what?"

"Nothing important." Bahamut told him.

Zell lend forward a bit, not knowing where to take this next. "I'm worried about you, you've been more like a statue then usual. And you barely said a word to me."

"I apologize for that." Bahamut said humbly. "But there were simply things I needed to think about."

Zell rolled his eyes and folded his arms, "Nothing important."

Bahamut looked at him with a slight perplexity. "What?"

"You told me it was nothing important, but your whole demeanor changes ." Zell said, almost accusingly. "I know you Bahamut, this isn't something small."

Bahamut's expression grew even more disregarding, completely dismissing Zell in his quiet way. "It's nothing you need be concerned about."

"Oh come on, don't give me that." Zell snorted. "Just tell me what it was."

"..." Bahamut closed his eyes and looked away with a clear annoyance.

And it wasn't like that ever detoured Zell before. "Heh,Bahamut, you were always so good at that brooding block of wood thing." He said with a laugh that wasn't from amusement. "Why don't you just tell me?"

And just because Zell kept asking didn't mean that Bahamut would tell him, if he wanted to he could just stand there silently and completely ignore him. There were things Zell still hadn't gotten an answer too, and with Bahamut's will it would be a considerable amount of time before even Zell could start to ware him down. "..."

"No way, your not pulling that on me." Zell abruptly stood up, planting his hands on Bahamut's shoulders and looked firmly up at closed eyes. "I'm not giving up on this, there is something wrong, we both know it."

"..."

"Not saying anything to me won't help this, we're partners, your can tell me stuff like this."

"It's not important." Bahamut repeated, hoping Zell would simply take his answer and leave it alone. Zell was not the person he wanted to speak too about what thoughts his mind held, in fact no one was.

Bahamut peeked a single eye open, watching Zell's expression drop to a disappointment he hated the sight of on the boy's face.

Zell sighed, letting his hands fall from Bahamut's shoulders to his side. "Bahamut, we can't...we can't do this, you can't just keep doing that, you can't shut down when I ask you things about yourself. I'm worried about you, ever since yesterday you've been acting strangely..." Zell's voice trailed off, his words stopping completely as a thought came into his mind, after realizing what he just said.

Yesterday... His mind recalled all of the events of that faithful morning that was about to spawn a chain of events he couldn't possibly predict.

Zell's face flashed with an inspiration, like he'd just found some hope for something unknown he thought would never happen. "Yesterday! When you saw Allen you sounded...It's him isn't it?"

Bahamut flinched slightly when he heard Zell's accusation, but he quickly clinched his jaw and stiffened his expression, not responding.

But Zell saw it, and he knew he was right. "That's it isn't it!" Zell half shouted. "It's him, you sounded afraid of him."

Bahamut didn't respond, but his usually stone strait expression was slightly unnerved, and the dragon practically gave off an air of tenseness that Zell felt in waves.

"Why, tell me why?" Zell asked, his voice pleading desperately. He couldn't let Bahamut go on this way, this was something important that happened to him, and if he knew then he could help. "He...He..."

Hey wait...Zell stopped, staring up at Bahamut with a quiet look of fading confusion and contemplation. Allen was after GFs, and Bahamut had a fear of him, considering what he already knew about Bahamut... Zell dropped his head, his voice growing quiet, but with the clear trembling of anger."... He was the one wasn't he?"

Bahamut didn't speak, he only looked away, losing the firm will his expression once held, instead it was replaced by a reluctance, or an embarrassment, possibly even fear.

"What happened?"

"..." Bahamut didn't answer, he didn't make a single move.

Zell's grip on his shoulders tightened and the boy's hands began shaking him, hard. Bahamut forced his vision back to the boy with a startled flinch, unable to look away as Zell lifted his head, tears forming in his eyes. "What happened!" He screamed.

Bahamut couldn't believe what he was seeing 'Z-Zell...'. "Why..."

"W-what?" Zell's eyes locked with the green one's, completely unwavering dispute the wetness blurring his vision.

"Why? It happened in the past, it's not important."

"Because what happened to you is important! I wanna know, I wanna help you!" Zell said, His arms starting to tremble with fading strength. "You sounded so sad, so messed up when you told me what went on in that place, I know it was horrible." Zell knew there was more too it, he knew it. There were times when Bahamut wasn't so on guard, times when they were completely happy and he let his defenses slip just a little. And with the junction Zell could see things, flashes of things, things Bahamut didn't think or tell him about. And he couldn't stand it. "This guy, he did something to you to make you like this...tell me please...let me help."

He didn't want Zell to help, that was the last thing he wanted, "No, this isn't your problem, it's needless for me to burden you with it."

Zell glared up at Bahamut, was he serious, after everything, was that the answer he was giving? "Damnit Bahamut! You can't tell me that!" Zell shouted,. "Don't you understand, we're partners, that means me and you together. If you have a problem, I have a problem, if you have a burden, I have a burden."

"Zell..." What could he say to that, Zell was so determined... "But I-"

"Bahamut, it's ok." Zell smiled slightly, wiping his eyes with his wrist. He didn't know why he was crying, it just came out. "Just tell me, it's alright to."

Bahamut stared down into the blue eyes, unable to speak for a longer time then he realized. Every time he attempted to speak something other then the truth of the matter, the words seemed to stall. Bahamut sighed, dropping his eyes from sight. "It happened a while ago, I cannot recall after being in _that_ place for so long."

Zell smiled again, throwing his arms around Bahamut's neck, "That's alright."

Bahamut sighed inwardly, he could believe he was actually going to tell this, to Zell. "It was a lot of people, most of them were in white. I remember a lot of white... I'm not sure exactly what they were doing to me, I over heard a lot of things about Junctioning and Drawing systems. I am not certain of that, most of my extent there was unknown to me."

"What did they do to you?"

"I'm not sure completely, test, experiments, a lot of things." Bahamut said with clear uncertainty. "Everyday...I think it was...They would inject different things, or another variation of the same thing." The first few dozen burned horribly until it left his system hours later, the next few dozen variations made the point of injection sting uncontrollably. An even longer, seeming well over a hundred, string of unknown chemicals make his whole arm, or leg or where ever they decided to put it too weak to move. Then his whole body too weak to move, they seemed to stick with that one, until the next test of something new probably more then a year later that made his head cloudy.

They stuck with that one too.

"They tested other things on me, they connected large...devices of some sort to me, I'm not sure of what they were doing to me..." But he was sure of the pain. He was amazed at how those humans could create such things, he wasn't sure of what they were, or what their intent was, all he knew was they hurt. Some of them caused pain he couldn't even describe, like his soul was being ripped out, or his heart was filling with air and about to burst. One of them forced his body into a ball, reminiscent of what happened to Griever when Ultimenica junctioned herself to him. That pain was the worse, because though they brought him out of it alright, most of the time, he felt like every one of his bones were broken he all of his internals where smashed apart. Not to mention his muscles felt like they had been literally torn into shreds.

"How long ago was this?" Zell asked.

"I don't know, many years ago." Bahamut said, he'd easily lost track of time in that place, he hadn't seen sunlight in years, until Zell came.

"And...This Allen guy, he was the one in charge?"

"Yes." Bahamut grimaced at the name, that man, he'd never seen any human like him before. Allen, he found ways to contain him, and most of the time he didn't even have to fight the dragon to do it. And even all the while he never said an intelligent word to him, no matter what Bahamut said he was completely ignored by any and everyone, like wasn't there, like he was nothing. And after years what became the worst thing for Bahamut was the way Allen looked at him, and that was just the way he talked to him, like he was nothing, like he wasn't there. At best Allen spoke to him as if he was a pet of some sort.

He was just a tool, a tool to be used and nothing more. And why would someone speak to a tool like him? Why would they treat him like he was a person, like he was anything other then an inanimate object?

Bahamut hated that more then anything. But even though that hate of Allen's treatment of him, the man found ways to make him fear him with out even trying, Allen never tried to do that. As much as Bahamut hated to admit it, he was petrified of the man, Allen made him helpless, he never could fight against him, and pain always came under Allen's order. This man was dangerous.

"Oh Hyne...Why didn't you tell me?" Zell hugged Bahamut even tighter.

"What difference would it have made?" Bahamut snorted.

"That doesn't matter, if had just told me maybe I could have helped you." Zell said. "That's not the kinda thing you wanna carry around."

"Telling you wouldn't have changed anything. It was pointless." Bahamut said almost stubbornly.

"That's not true! If you told me then we-..." Zell's voice drifted away from him in mid-sentence for the second time, his eyes softening slightly into a disappointed look. He started to put some things together, about all of what Bahamut was saying... "You still don't trust me all the way."

Bahamut seemed surprised at the realization, about to say something, but then quickly shutting his mouth and looking away.

"It's true, I knew it." Zell seemed hurt at this, unable to look up at Bahamut either. "Why?"

"Zell I...I..." He couldn't deny it or downplay it at all, the truth was he didn't trust Zell completely. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't, it just didn't happen. "..."

"Bahamut, please tell me why?" Zell asked. "I trust you with my life, doesn't that count for anything, I have to get some trust points for that."

"I do trust you Zell." Bahamut said, again hoping that Zell would accept his answer.

"Just not enough. I mean come on, this is important stuff. This guy took Griever, _Griever, _and look what he did to you. I thought you trusted me enough to tell this at lest for this-" Zell... Zell let go of Bahamut and took a small pace away, his back turned to the dragon. "Bahamut...what were you thinking about, really?"

"Zell...It-"

"Don't tell me it's nothing, just tell me..."

"I...I"

Zell didn't need an answer, he already knew it. " You were gonna leave weren't you? You were gonna go off after Allen by yourself?" Just by Bahamut's non responsiveness he knew he was right. "I can't believe it, you were really gonna leave and not even say anything."

Bahamut shook his head, going after Zell with quick steps and wrapping his arms around the boy to keep him from pacing even farther away. "That's why I told you it wasn't important, because I didn't go anywhere, I won't leave you."

"But you were thinking about it." Zell said. "And it wasn't just a little thing in the back of your head, you were really thinking about it."

Bahamut mentally kicked himself, he shouldn't have said anything at all. He didn't trust Zell completely, he didn't trust humans completely for that matter, but he didn't want to hurt him. He didn't want to make him feel bad, he didn't want to make him doubt him. "Your afraid."

Zell shook his head. "What are you talking about."

"Your still afraid." Bahamut told him, holding on to him with strong, protective arms. "Your still afraid that I'm going to leave."

"I-I'm not afraid of...You still don't trust me, you were gonna go, you admitted it!"

"Yes, I thought about it." Bahamut admitted. "I was going after him myself, he nearly killed you, I didn't want that to happen to you. But I didn't leave, do you know why?"

Alright, he'd bite. "Why?" Zell asked reluctantly.

"I promised you I wouldn't, and I won't. If I wanted to leave then I assure you I would have."

Zell dropped his head and removed his eyes from sight, he felt more tears forming in his eyes. Now he understood why he was crying, it was because Bahamut was right. "How do I..." Zell clinched his jaw and shook his head. "... Your still afraid of me, your still afraid I'm gonna do something to hurt you. "

"Zell..." Bahamut lifted his hands to Zell's shoulders and turned the boy around so that they were face to face. And with out reluctance he lent down and kissed him, slipping his tongue into the surprised mouth, his eyes fixed on the startled blue ones staring up at him. "I won't leave you."

"And you can trust me."

"I do." Bahamut said.

Zell sighed, letting his head fall against Bahamut's chest. "Why don't I believe that?"

"I thrust you Zell." Bahamut said firmly, "I do."

Zell tilted his head back and sighed, a nervous smile coming on to his face. "If you stop keeping that thought in the back of your head that I'm gonna end up being like those other guys. I'll stop thinking you'll just get sick of me and leave."

! - ! - !

Watts sighed, holding the small white bird up about to face level, softly under the wings with both hands. His jacket and hat were gone, the sleeves of the green shirt he wore underneath were rolled up as he knelt on the bathroom floor beside a half full tub. "Come on Enix, just work with me." The man pleaded."I'm not Zone but I won't hurt you."

He made some progress, Enix at first seemed so tense that he'd jump out of Watt's hands at any given moment. Over the course of an hour's time he was able to get the small bird to at lest let him hold him, but he couldn't keep him in the water for more then 5 seconds.

"I'm gonna go slow, alright." Watts said, slowly dropping his outstretched arms toward the tub, Enix began to look around uneasily. "I'm just gonna put you in, real slow ok?" Watts paused slightly, holding the small bird just above the clear surface of the clean liquid, then eased the baby Chocobo into the water.

"!" Enix squawked loudly and began struggling in Watt's hands as he felt his legs and his stomach submerge into the water. "Kewk! Kewk!" Enix flailed his wings around and kicked with wild splashes, he managed to wiggle his way out of Watt's hands and fly a short distance to the floor outside of the tub.

"What's wrong with taking a bath, it's just water, you drink it don't you?" Watts reasoned, but he felt silly trying to beg a Chocobo to take a bath.

"Hey Watts."

Watts glanced back over his shoulder and saw Zone walking into the bathroom, the man's eyes immediately grew with some indescribable light when he saw the small bird. "Anything wrong sir?"

"Nah, everything is fine." Zone knelt down beside Watts and lifted Enix into his arms, ignoring the wetness dripping on to his clothing. "Hey little guy."

"Kewk!" Enix fluttered his wings and squawked happily, looking up at the man as if he'd just gotten something he'd been waiting for.

"What's about you?" Zone asked, "How have you been doing?"

"Not so good." Watts shook his head, scratching the curly black hair with a wet hand. "I've been trying to get him to go into the water for an hour but he just won't do it."

"Aww, what's the problem little guy." Zone softly ran his fingers through the white feathers that still hadn't gained any real consistency. They were still weak and damaged, he felt one stuck between his finger as he lifted his hands. "You have to take a bath... Let me try."

"Be my guest." Watts stepped back willingly.

Zone held the he bird over the tub, and saw his happiness start to slip, drifting farther and farther as Zone lowered him more and more. "It's ok, It's just water." He tried to reassure him, but it didn't seem to be working, Enix only became more and nervous. "I wouldn't do something anything to hurt you, relax it's only a bath." Zone said, gently lowering Enix's legs into the water and seeing the baby Chocobo grow an almost feared look on his face and began to kick lightly, though with more restraint then he had with Watts. "See, it's just water."

Enix seemed to be trying to tolerate it until the tip of his wing, held tightly to his side, touch the water's surface, "Wark! Wark!" He began struggling, squirming firmly out of Zone's hands and with a few flaps of injured wings he managed to fly out of the water and clear the edge of the tub before all the fighting against Watts for the last hour started to catch up with him and he fell weakly to the ground.

"Enix..." Zone sighed with a slight disappointment. He gently slid his hands underneath Enix and scoped the bird into his arms, he couldn't keep his eyes off of the sad look the small bird had, meowing with soft moans as quiet as his breaths. He clung to Zone, as if pleading for something "Aw man..." Zone looked back at Watt's, who only shrugged unknowingly. "I don't think we should make him go in, he's really scared for some reason, maybe he's not ready yet."

"I don't understand it." Watts said, "He's drunken water before, why is he so afraid of it now."

"I don't know, he hasn't drunk any water since we've had him." Zone told him. "The closest thing he's had was milk, Cho said it was better for him right now."

"Hmm..." Watts leaned forward towards Enix and looked over him scrutinizingly. "Maybe he's had something traumatic happen to him with bodies of water, he could have almost drowned before."

"Yeah, maybe that's it. I remember we had to pry Matthew out of his room for 3 weeks after we found him." Zone softly ran his fingers over Enix's back in an attempt to calm hin down . "Alright, we won't make you go again. I'm sorry." He cooed. "I didn't know it made you so mad."

"Perhaps we should try giving him a sponge bath." Watts suggested.

"Hey wait a minute." Zone looked back at the man with slight questioning. "You've been trying to give him a bath for an hour, and you think about this now?"

"I just now came to me sir." Watts said simply.

"That's not a bad idea, maybe he'll take that better." Zone slipped his hands under Enix's wings and lifted the bird up to eye level, "What do you say little guy? Wanna try that instead?"

"Kewk."

"Alright then! Watts, give me a towel and some soap." Zone sat Enix down on the edge of the tub, and was amazed at his grip, that bird really didn't want to fall. "We can do this right?"

"If we can handle Matthew, this should be easy for us sir."

! - ! - !


	13. Chapter 13: FH

Chapter 13: FH

Morning finally came, seemingly earlier then usual today, and by then the Garden had already drifted to FH on auto pilot. It was 10 AM, and the sun showed it, it was warm as usual, a light breeze coming inland from the ocean. The sound of the water was almost constant no matter where one was in the city, and as Squall climbed out of the second floor emergency exit where a ramp had been customarily in place for them. The familiar idea of himself staying in a place like this came to mind.

(Would you really do it?) Ifrit asked, the deep voice appearing in his mind.

'Maybe, a long time from now I think.' Squall scratched his head sleepily, he couldn't stop himself from yawning as he looked out over the island and the mass of water surrounding them. It was quiet, but it was always quiet here, and the weather was always nice, it was peaceful, a place that had no idea what would come. 'Hmm...'

(Squall, what is that?) Ifrit, alert as usual, was to first to pick on something out of place. He prompted Squall to look slightly to the left, just past the bridge and lift that led into the city from here to the actually city. It was hard to see from here, but on the rail tracks in front of the sun dish was rested something completely out of place. (Isn't that one of the devices those men used?)

Squall leaned froward and squinted his eyes slightly, he could just barely make out the form of the objected Ifrit talked about from here. But when he did finally at lest see an outline he knew what it was, an armored SUV with a defense torrent on top. 'Damnit, they're here already.'

Zell reached his hand out and grabbed the edge of the door frame, pulling himself tiredly out. "Geez, what time is it?" Zell rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and then stretched his arms above his head with a small yawn.

"It's 10'clock." Squall folded his arms and continued to peer around the Island from where he was, searching more signs of another force's presence. "You shouldn't have been up so late."

"Yeah, yeah." Zell stood up strait and adjusted his shirt, lightly slapping the side of his face in an attempt to perk up. "So what are you waiting for?"

"They're here already." Squall announced.

Zell sighed, rubbing the back of neck. "I guess there goes trying to warn them, so what do we do?"

"Hmm..." Squall let his eyes drift thoughtfully down to the water below, this was hard.

(We can't just run into that place.) Bahamut said, (They're forces could be larger then we can handle, and if Allen is there we'll be overpowered for sure.)

Zell nodded. "Your right, we should be really careful ."

Squall glanced Zell's way, noting he was talking to Bahamut, "We'll play it by ear, but remember, our objective is finding Griever and Alex, we don't want to deal with Allen yet."

"Alright."

Squall took one last fleeting glance at the sight before reaching back to shut the door and then stepping on to the bridge. Zell trailed behind Squall as the other boy moved over it with a quickened pace, then impatiently broke into a full sprint about halfway down. They made their way over the familiar bridge of metal that looked as if it had come together on it's own by accident or sparsely thrown together, which it was, yet still held up well.

The people of FH were very crafty.

The worst of the trail was behind them by the time they made it to the lift, where the usual operator was waiting for them. "Ah, I see you banged it up pretty bad this time." The man said, taking off the black baseball hat he wore and shifting around the collar of his white shirt.

"Unfortunately." Squall stepped onto the lift, and just as Zell walked on the gate lifted behind them and the structure descended. "How long will it take to fix?"

"About 3 days if we really work at it." The man said.

"I appreciate it, we need to be ready to leave as soon as possible."

Zell looked over at Squall, then to the man he knew to be an engineer, the gaining image of the armored SUV in the corner of his eye. "Did some people show up here this morning? Like a big group or something?" He asked curiously.

The man didn't have to think about the question. "Yeah in fact, a big group of military types showed up out of nowhere, just right on move in like they was invited or something. I think they're talking to the mayor."

Zell and Squall gave silent looks to each other. "Have they done anything yet?" Zell asked anxiously, his hand darted out and grabbed on to the railing as the lift came to a shaky stop.

"No." The man shook his head, slipping his hat back on, "And they keep saying they ain't fixin' too but I don't trust um'. Fightin' types make me nervous." He didn't hide his indication of Squall and Zell, but the people of FH had learned to tolerate their presence.

Squall and Zell stepped off the lift, standing a good distance away from the railroad tracks and the entrance to the sun dish. They could see two men in Gcom uniform, taking up post around the ramp heading to the mayor's home it seemed, but they weren't paying much attention. "Squall, how the hell are we going to get any information about Griever and Alex from those guys?"Zell asked, shifting uneasily.

"We probably wont." Squall told him, his hand resting on the hilt of his gunblade with the same tense energy Zell had. "We'll just look around and see what we can find out, if Griever and Alex are here then we'll find them."

(Squall, would it not be wise to separate and increases the area of our search to save time?) Ifrit suggested.

'Yeah, maybe it would...' Squall nodded, thinking alittle more about it before speaking on it. "We'll have to split up." He said. "Zell, check everything, and avoid fighting as much as possible."

"Right." Zell agreed, then a slightly perplexed expression came on to his face when he felt the dislogment of unjunctioning, "Huh?" Before he could say anything about it, Carbuncle's form crept into this dimension in front of him. "Carbuncle what are you doing?"

"He said split up right?" Carbuncle replied innocently.

Squall took another sideways glance at the men stationed near the mayor's house "Carbuncle, I think Zell might need you. In case he gets into any fights."

"He has Bahamut, and he's really strong, he'll be fine." Carbuncle said discardingly. "I need to find Alex." Even as he spoke he looked around the unfamiliar place with a bit of awe, the only thing he recognized was the ocean, holding faint memories of it. Everything else here was new to him, everything was overwhelming, he just hoped he didn't get lost.

"It's way too dangerous." Zell said firmly, folding his arms across his chest and shaking his head. "Your a GF, they're after you. What would happen if you got caught? I don't wanna lose you to."

Carbuncle gave him an annoyed look, like a child who had just been told he couldn't. "Zell, I'm not helpless. I can get away from those guys."

Zell and Squall gave each other another look, Zell hoping to find some hint on what he should do from Squall, who could offer none. ( I think he'll be alright.) Bahamut said. (Now that he knows what they're are capable of he won't take any risks he doesn't need to.) Hopefully.

Zell scratched his head slightly and sighed in defeat. "Alright, just be careful."

Carbuncle grinned victoriously. "Right!"

( Squall, those men positioned outside of that entrance, what do you think they are trying to conceal?) Ifrit asked.

Squall looked in their direction fully at the inquiry, 'That's a good question.' Speaking of which... Squall knelt down beside Carbuncle, "Carbuncle, do you think you can get down there without getting caught?" Squall pointed to the dish like structure rooted in the center of the city.

Carbuncle nodded. "Yeah."

Squall stood to his feet, the hand resting on his lion heart drawing the gunblade out.

"What, gotta plan?" Zell asked curiously, his eyes watching the gunblade intently.

"Not really, Me and You will have to get rid of those guards so Carbuncle can get down there, then I'll take one side of the city, you take the other. We met back here in an hour." Squall said.

Zell nodded. "Sounds good to me."

! - ! - !

The two men in green Gcom uniforms looked at each other uneasily, at first glance their eyes were drawn to the Garden they'd just attacked yesterday, it's arrival couldn't mean a good thing. They knew Balamb Garden came here for repairs, which meant it would only be a matter of time before they showed up, making this confrontation inevitable.

So they were clearly somewhat nervous when Squall and Zell started approaching them, with weapon's drawn no less.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Zell stood dangerously close, demanding an answer. Not that he couldn't guess himself.

"Hey, Hey." The man on the left lifted his hands defensively. "We don't want to fight."

Squall barely even listened. "The kid and GF you took from us, we're are they?"

"I'm sorry but we can't give the GF back, we need it." The man on the right said some what sympatheticly.

"I didn't ask what you can't do, I asked where they were." Squall said fiercely, clearly his last warning. Though he didn't expect them to tell him, he just needed to move them.

"Come on, I guess I can understand your position." The man on the left said, "Maybe if I was you I'd want to fight me too, but the people of this town don't like fighting. We don't want to disrespect that."

Squall and Zell looked at each other again, were they serious? "You know, we wouldn't have to fight if you would just give them back." Zell prompted, he figured he'd at lest try it.

Both men looked wearily at each other, shaking their heads as spoke at the same time. "We can't do that."

Squall lifted his sword, taking a step back and readying himself. "Then we have a problem."

The man on the left rubbed his head and sighed. "I guess it can't be helped." He pushed the mic on his headset closer to his mouth. "This is GS89, be advised, engaging a hostile...Goddammit I know we're not suppose to be fighting here but I don't have a choice here." With a growl of frustration the man ripped off his head set and tossed it aside, quickly taking a small leap backwards when Squall slashed at him with his sword.

The man on the right had become distracted watching Squall, and by the time he looked back in the direction of the other boy, Zell had delivered a hard punch to his jaw and another one just as painful to his stomach, making him fall forward slightly. Zell finished the combo with another hard punch to the side of his head that sent the man stumbling backwards across the railroad tracks, into the railing surrounding the dish.

'Great!' Carbuncle slowly crept out from underneath the train resting on the tracks nearby, while the two men were distracted with Squall and Zell, Carbuncle had no trouble moving about. The small GF paused and looked at the soiled railing, there was nothing he could slip under or go through, it was a solid steel Barrier too high for him to reach. So he agilely leapt into the air, kicking off the front of the stalled train and landed on the edge of the thin railing with a feline like grace. He seemed very much like a cat inform as he leapt outward on to the vertical sloping panels so bright with the sun that it was almost blinding.

And at the moment Carbuncle wished he would have looked before he leapt, he wondered if he hadn't lost his memory would he have made the same mistake. 'Whoa!' Carbuncle landed on the heavily slanted surface and immediately lost what little footing he had, he ended up falling head first, his body forcibly rolling into a ball as he tumbled down the surface at a dizzying speed. 'Ahhhaaaa!IHateThis!' Carbuncle nauseously forced himself out of the ball when he felt the incline lighten, managing to land stumbling on his feet so dizzy he didn't know which way was up. But he did manage to notice himself sliding directly into a wall of the platform in the center.

'Shit! Rubber Shield!' Like a flash of light, an off orange shield appeared around him and he fell helplessly into the brick wall but he bounced safely off it and shield popped afterwords. 'Oh Hyne, why didn't I look first...' Carbuncle fell disorientedly to the ground, feeling as if his head and stomach was still spinning...Hyne, that word, something he'd learned from everyone around him. People said it so much he couldn't help but pick up, and it wasn't the only thing, he'd learned a lot so far...

Carbuncle shook his head, trying to disburse the spinning with no avail, he still felt himself reeling from his tumbling.

With a quick look around and realizing there was nothing down here, Carbuncle leapt upward and grabbed on to the edge of the platform, hanging on just barely with his paws as he placed his chin on the top and looked around. He saw two men talking in front of the door of the small house, Gcom solders. And from the window he could see at lest one more inside. 'What are they doing in there?' Maybe he should get a closer look...

Carbuncle's eyes shifted around, keeping the two men in the corner of his eyes at all times as he surveyed the area scrutinizingly. His ears perked at every sound that wasn't the voices of the conversing men...'?' His eyes darted to the far edge of the platform, as far as his vision could reach before the curving surface made it impossible. He heard a small sound, no, a series of them and could just barely see a shadow...

'Hmm...' Waiting until the men weren't remotely paying attention his way, Carbuncle climbed up on to his feet and crept behind a crate before anyone looked his way. Quickly he bolted out the other side, keeping close around the edge of the house until he reached the point where the shadow became seen. '!'

! - ! - !

Squall and Zell had quickly dispatched the two men, seeing as how they seemed really intent on not fighting while in FH, they had enough curtesy not to transform. Afterwords they separated, the two hoping Carbuncle wouldn't get caught as they panned out over the city in search of the most miniscule detail .

Squall hadn't found any yet, but he didn't think it would be too much longer. His mind completely alert as he walked along side the rail road tracks, blending as best he could among the people trying to go about their lives. Despite the number of solders now occupying the area. This had to be the most calm invasion he'd ever seen, it was such a farcry from Galbadia's take over of Balamb a few years back. 'I don't get this...'

(Those men say they are trying to respect the town's policy of not fighting.) Ifrit said (Maybe they truly are trying to act accordingly.)

'Maybe...' Squall shifted his eyes around, looking particularly for places where more then one solders were gathered, or something of that nature where that kind of information would be. He paused curiously as he came upon a shop...'I still don't get it, what do they want?'

(It seems purely to be in opposition to Galbadia.)

'That's not what I mean...' Squall pushed the door open and walked inside of the small shop, stepping on to hardwood floors and a room lit seemingly solely by the light of the window beside the door covered by open blinds. He was met by the soft breeze of a fan resting on a table. The store owner sat behind a counter beside him, and in front of a pair of stairs leading upstairs stood two Gcom solders, apparently trying to buy something from him. 'This is what I mean, why are they buying whatever it is they want. If they have control of the city, why not just take it?'

"I'm not selling anything to _you_." The store owner hissed venomously.

"You don't even know who _we_ are." The first solder said, a man with long brown hair and the customary Gcom green uniform.

"Let me handle this." The second solder whispered harshly, gaining a glare from the other solder. This one had wild, spiky black hair, running his hands through the unruly strands as he turned back towards the man. "Look sir, we don't want to cause any trouble, honestly."

"Yeah right, trouble always comes when you military types show up, just get out." The stubborn owner said bitterly. He looked to be about in his mid 40's.

The two men looked at each other, the brunet shrugged and looked at the other promptingly. "Uh...Look, sir, all we need is a capacitor." The black haired man said, it was a junk shop, there was bound to be some around here. "Maybe a little bit of steel, Oh, and uh, some titanium would be good."

"I said-"

"We'll pay you double." The man offered.

"No-"

"Triple."

Squall couldn't believe it, they were offering to pay the man that much money, even though they just took over the whole city and if they wanted to take it there was no way the man could stop them. 'What do you make of this?'

(I'm not sure yet.) Ifrit said with clear uncertainty.

The older owner seem to take an interest in that. "Triple?"

"Don't misunderstand us, _we_ aren't here to cause you any problems." The brown haired man said. "We just want to buy some things."

The older man just stared at them for a few seconds, seemingly unsure if he wanted to go along with this. But either of the growing belief they weren't here to start problems, or the enticement of money, he started to except "Fine."

Squall reached behind him and fumbled around to get the door knob into his grasp, quickly turning it and backing out of the store before they noticed him. (Squall, why did you leave?) Ifrit asked.

Squall quickly slipped into an alley behind the building, his body hiding into the shadows as he came to a second window on the wall adjacent to the counter inside the building. 'I want to see what they need that for. What do you suppose they're trying to build?'

(I don't know.) Ifrit said.

Squall watched as more of the Gcom solders passed by him on the street, unnoticing of his presence. Gcom didn't occupy this place with that many numbers it would seem needed to take over a town, not nearly as many as Galbadia. There were still a few troops on their way from unknown locations, he could hear helicopters in the distance, yet still there wouldn't be more then 500. Galbadia had used about 2000 and they were simply moving through Balamb.But it was understandable, one of their solders could easily equal three or four of Galbadia's. 'I wonder if Allen is here.'

! - ! - !

Zell seemed to have picked the right, or wrong depending on perspective, side of the city. He'd chosen the left, and this side of the island is where Gcom seemed to be setting up a base. Zell stood on the railroad tracks behind an old train that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. This road lead to the old train station on the south edge of the island, that connected to the main bridge stretching to Esther no longer service.

And the whole area was filled with 5 armored trucks parked in neat rows, the same ones that had been used in the attack on Balamb garden a day pryer. 2, clearly armed, helicopters were parked nearby in the center of the train station, not to mention a few boats could be seen in the water. The train station seemed to be the logical place to set up, they simply cleared away the debris and ruble and entered the abandoned building.

Which Zell just had to get into. 'Holy crap, look at all these guys.' Zell peeked out from a safe distance behind with slight dismay. 'They sure moved in fast.'

(We can not afforded to be engaged in a battle.) Bahamut said. Clearly intimidated himself by the overwhelming number.

'I know.' Zell sighed, he pressed his back against the train and slid around to the other side, still staying out of view though coming much closer to being spotted. 'We have to get in there though. It looks like this is Gcom's first stop right? Alex and Griever have to be inside.' Zell took a deep breath and swallowed hard, then he quickly bolted out into the open tracks when he was sure no one was looking and then quickly dived behind the first truck aligned in a neat row along the entrance to the train station. His heart pounded in his ears as he heard the clatter of a large number of solders going about their business around him.

(I'm and unsure you will be able to avoid detection once inside.) Bahamut said uneasily, he wasn't even sure Zell could make it to the front door. ( What will you do if you are?)

'Easy, we fight our way out and run like hell.' Zell told him, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. He fell to the ground and rolled underneath the large SUV, then he began crawling froward through to the next one, inching closer and closer to the station on his stomach.

(It never ceases to amaze me how you can make anything sound simple.) Bahamut sighed, things were a little more complicated then that.

Zell slipped underneath the last car and peered outward among the sea of boots treading around him in all directions, his eyes most drawn to the two helicopters to his left, while his mind was drawn to the stairs of the large building to his right. "Shit... I guess I'm stuck here for a while..."

! - ! - !

"A-Alex!" Carbuncle had to restrain his voice to a forceful whisper when he saw the white haired boy clad in green sitting at the back of the mayor's house, luckily out of range of anyone else.around.

Alex sat on the edge of the platform, his legs hanging off absentmindly and his body crouched over slightly, enough to rest his arms on his knees. "?" The boy looked back over his shoulder when he heard the sound soft footsteps and his name. "Carbuncle!" His voice was loud enough to almost be considered a shout, he looked on in confusion as the small GF slipped past his side and jumped into his lap. "W-What are you doing here!"

"Are you serious!" Carbuncle smiled in a happy relief, burying his face into Alex's chest as he felt the tension from the worry he'd had since Alex was taken start to fade away. "We came to save you, you didn't think we'd just leave you did you?"

Alex laughed, wrapping his arms around Carbuncle and cradling him in a soft embrace. He felt equally happy to see Carbuncle again, but just as worried . "Squall, Zell, they're here?"

"The Garden is here." Carbuncle lifted his head and slipped out of Alex's embrace, landing on his lap again.

"Really?" Alex lifted his head, shifting his hands behind him to push himself up slightly in an attempt to increase his view. But he didn't feel like getting up and seeing that he wouldn't be able to get a glemps of it from here he'd just take the GF's word for it. "Are...they ok?"

"Yeah, but they're really pissed." Carbuncle opened his mouth wide and forced himself to take a deep breath in an attempt to calm his racing heart and his quelling stomach. He was just so excited. "That guy beat them."

"Oh man...I never wanted that to happen." Alex let his hand come to rest on his head and looked up at the sky with dismay.

"Huh, What do you mean?" Carbuncle tilted his head to the side questioningly, sitting down in the boy's lap.

"I didn't want you guys to get hurt."

"Is that why you left?" Carbuncle asked.

Alex nodded, continuing to stare at the sky, listening to the sounds of the ocean all around them. He liked that sound, it was like a pulse. "Yeah, I figured if I just went along with them then they would leave you guys alone."

"What the hell kinda thinking is that! Did you see what happened to Squall and Zell!" Carbuncle yelled angrily. "You shouldn't have left." He closed his eyes and turned away with a pout.

Alex laughed, lifting his hand from his side to pet Carbuncle. "It wasn't like I had much of a choice, they left you alone didn't they, and Squall and Zell are alright." He said, and that was all that mattered to him, as long as they were safe he could deal with the rest. "You shouldn't have come here, it's too dangerous for you." He said, his voice becoming more serious this time

"Dangerous?" Carbuncle tilted his head upward arrogantly, with the smirk to match. "Dangerous is what I do!...Or so I've been told."

Alex laughed again. "I forgot you don't remember anything, it must be confusing."

"Nah, not really." Carbuncle laid down in Alex's lap, resting head partially on his paws while the other half rested against the boy's stomach. "What's to be confused by what I don't know."

"I guess so." Alex rested his hand behind his head and laid back, his eyes watching the clouds drift by over head. It was so peaceful, it was enough to make him wish he could stay here, even more so with his friend. "Really, you shouldn't have come here, your gonna get caught."

"No way! I can handle those guys." Carbuncle announced.

"What about Allen?" Alex asked, just to prove him wrong.

"Uh...I'll find away." Carbuncle paused, then sat up questioningly, "Hey wait, what are you waiting for! Come on, we gotta go."

"Carbuncle, I want to go with you, I really wanna be there with you guys, but I can't." Alex sighed.

"Don't worry about those guys over there, I can get you past them. And Allen is-"

"He's over there too." Alex stated bluntly, "Think you can get past him with me?"

Carbuncle looked around almost distractedly, trying to devise an answer. This was hard, maybe he should have thought this all the way through. "Uh..."

"Carbuncle, thanks for the effort, really." Alex said, opening his mouth wide with a small yawn. "I appreciate it a lot, but I'm alright. Don't worry about me, get out of here while you still can."

"I'm not gonna leave you behind!" Carbuncle leapt on to his chest and growled at him, giving him a small head butt to the chin to make him move faster. "Let's go!"

"I'm not just saying this because I don't want you to get caught." Alex told him, his eyes rolling down from the clear skies to Carbuncle's green eyes. He loved Carbuncle's eyes, and his fur, they were his favorite color. Alex lifted his hand and tapped the red jewel on top of Carbuncle's head almost teasingly. "I _really_ am alright. I'm fine."

"Geez, you are such an idiot. I don't get you sometimes." Carbuncle dropped his head and sighed...then he looked up with a streak of remembrance. "Hey, do you know where they took Griever?"

Alex looked up thoughtfully, gently rubbing his chin. A small breeze washed inland from the water, bringing with it the salty smell of water, tickling Carbuncle's ears slightly. "That's Squall's GF right?...Nah... I don't know, where ever he is he's not here."

Well it wasn't a total waste of time. "That only leaves you then doesn't it?"

Alex sighed, Carbuncle never listened to him. "Forget about me, I'm not in trouble." Alex pleaded. "Carbuncle these guys are really dangerous, they're gonna capture you and I don't want them to get you. And I don't want something to happen to Zell and Squall, you guys should just lay off."

"Lay off? Your out of your mind." Carbuncle said firmly. "They attacked the Garden, you should have seen what it looked like after words...And..." Carbuncle turned his head away almost reluctantly, glaring off into the sun panels surrounding them. "They...They hurt Zell, they almost killed him. And they aren't gonna do it to just us, they're going after a whole bunch of other places too. We can't let that happen."

"Other places...Like what?"

Carbuncle could only repeat what he'd heard from Squall the day before. "Like Tribria and Windhill and...other places."

"How...did you find out about that?" Alex asked in slight confusion. Then he shook his head. "It doesn't matter, just lay off, you can't handle these guys."

"We fought stuff like this before, we always found away to get over it . We'll find away this time." Carbuncle shot back defensively. "There always is away."

"Hey wait..." Alex lifted his head slightly as if just realizing something. "Carbuncle, you got it all wrong. I thought you figured it out."

"Wrong? What?"

"About Allen, and Gcom, they-" Alex froze in the middle of his sentence, and an almost startled expression came on to his face. Carbuncle didn't have time to ask about it before Alex bolted upright and quickly shoved Carbuncle off his lap and off of the platform, down to the sun panel below, out of sight. Then with a hurried rush he stammered to his feet and turned around.

Find himself staring at an approaching Allen Maru coming from the other side of the house.

Carbuncle froze, he didn't have to see to know who it was, he knew that scent, and that energy that came off of the man. He pressed his body tensely against the wall, staying as silent as he could.

Allen folded his arms and stared down at the boy chastisingly. Alex only rubbed the back of his head nervously, "What?"

"I took you out of Balamb so you wouldn't get in the way." Alan said, he softly adjusted the head set over the somewhat messy brown hair and folded his arms again. He had an easy sense about him, something laxed, completely contrast to the display of strength he had shown the other day, everything about him was contrary to what one would expect from some one with that much power.

"What? I'm not doing anything, there's nothing to do." Alex said, even though he sounded normal his voice held a twinge of nervousness to it, and his face held the same.

"Really." And Allen wasn't exactly oblivious, but when he looked at the almost pleading look Alex was giving him, just like back at the Garden he couldn't resist it. And thusly acted as if he was, with a mental sigh at his own weakness. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, what am I gonna do?"Alex said. "I don't even have some one to talk to." He spoke normally, as normally as he could, but he still sounded nervous. He stare at Allen, completely tense, hoping he'd take his answer and leave the subject alone.

No, the man was too smart for that.

Allen glanced past Alex , looking over the boy's shoulder towards the edge of the brick platform. And at the moment, Alex knew the man knew. "..." Alex sighed and stared down at the ground in a depressed defeat.

"Fine." Allen sighed, watching Alex lift his head in surprise, the boy couldn't believe it. For the second time Allen was going to let Alex have his way and he'd leave Carbuncle alone. "But we need to talk about this."

Alex just nodded, he barely payed attention to what the man had said next, he was too relieved.

"Come on, we're leaving." Allen turned around and began walking off, pulling the headset's microphone closer to his mouth. "Main Base this is Maru, base had been established on FH, I'm pulling out." There was a slight mummer of response to low for anyone else to hear.

Alex ran after the man, giving one last silent glance back to Carbuncle before he disappeared.

And Carbuncle couldn't believe he didn't do anything... 'Alex...'

! - ! - !

Squall pressed his back against the wall of the small shop's alley way and listened as he heard the door open to the building and the two men exit with a large box holding the capacitor, while the other held two rather heavy looking, but short beams of steel in his arms. He peeked out from behind the corner and watched as they got a good distance down the street before he darted out and trailed behind them.

It was lucky for Squall most of these men didn't recognize him, they hadn't been apart of the attack on Balamb Garden, so he walked for the most part with out incident. Though he was keenly aware they knew of his arrival since the transmission from the first solder he'd encountered. Squall slipped behind whatever he could whenever he got the feeling the men could remotely be looking his way, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could to the other Solders and residence around.

It seemed the residence wasn't taking this invasion as well as it would seem, just about everyone was outside, making the crowds much more heavy then it had ever been, and a blaring clatter of arguments had broken out between them and those of Gcom. He had to admit, that even the arguments were somewhat diplomatic here. But it didn't matter, it was making it that much easier for Squall.

It wasn't long before Squall had followed the men back to the base newly set up at the south edge of the island. 'Oh great, they already made base.' Squall sighed, slipping behind some of the rubble of the old demolished track splitting off from the main bridge to Esther into town. He looked along the vehicles stationed out side the old building, as well as the bustle of solders moving in and out, still setting up inside. 'Think Griever's in there?'

(If they have taken him here this would most likely be the location, where they've gathered and organized.) Ifrit agreed.

'Now how do we get inside...' Squall began looking around for openings other then that of the front door. 'It is a train station, maybe we could go through the tracks behind it.

(Squall.) Ifrit prompted. (Zell is here.)

'Huh, where?'

(There.) Ifrit directed Squall's eyes toward the SUV closest to the station where the hint of Zell's sleave was protruding into his view.

'Zell...' With little hesitancy, Squall waited until the flow of men began to thin slightly and most of the remaining ones weren't paying attention his way. Before he leapt over the broken column and bolted under the wing of one of the helicopters before he had to slow down and move inconspicuously when he saw a solder start to turn in his direction from the noise. He managed to crouch down and press his body against the side of the car before anyone realized him. "Zell." He whispered harshly.

With a startled flinch Zell stuck his head out from underneath the vehicle. "S-Squall! You scared the hell out of me!" He whispered back. "You know what, good timing actually, we have to get in there."

(Squall.) Ifrit said warningly, (If you remain like this you will be detected.)

'Oh, right.' Squall dropped to the ground and rolled underneath the car beside Zell. "Have any ideas?"

"Not really." Zell shook his head, "The best I could come up with was to sneak through the basement window. Your the guy in charge, you have to come up with something."

"I was thinking we could go to the tracks around the back and try entering from there." Squall told him.

"Sounds good to me." Zell said, but anything sounded good to him when he didn't have any ideas. He abruptly rolled out from underneath his cover and into the open.

"Zell! Wait for me!"

! - ! - !

Zell and Squall crouched underneath the platform in the back elevating the waiting dock from the lanes of tracks below, it kept them neatly out of sight. 'See anyone?' Zell asked.

(The coast is clear.) Bahamut informed him.

With out a word Zell leapt upward and landed on the platform a few feet above the ground, Squall cumbersomely following. As they expected there was a back door, an open one at that. "Let's go." Squall took the lead, slowly and quietly slipping into the door. And unfortunately he found himself in a wide open room, the station's terminal, which logically was were the group was setting up, about 19 people were here all together . Realizing the mistake, Squall took a step back, trying to back away and take Zell with him, but then it was too late.

"Hey, you aren't suppose to be here." One of the women in particular, waring a green blazer and matching dress which seemed to be the uniform for women, had been walking right towards them and couldn't help but see him.

"Shit."Before Squall knew it just about everyone in the room was looking at him. And some of them did recognize him from the attack on the Garden. Others just figured so from the transmission they all heard about 2 hostile.

There was a small pause in the room, a silence as everyone stopped what they were doing. "Should we run?" Zell asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Run where? It's an island, the Garden is docked and being repaired." Squall readily drew his gunblade and before he knew it about 3 of the closest men were coming towards him. And he was sure they knew he didn't plain on talking to him. "Come on Zell." Squall drew his sword back over his shoulder and charged froward, quickly thrusting it down on the man in the center with a bloody slash that ripped across his chest.

Zell was intently struck with a Firaga spell before he could move, his body erupting in a burst of flames that made him stumble back slightly. With a growl of frustration he charged froward at the man on the left who'd cast the spell and thew a hard punch into the man's stomach, then jumped upward slightly and delivered a hard kick to his face. "Hell no Squall!" Zell shouted, running to Squall's side, "We can't fight all these guys."

As they spoke they were currently being surrounded by at lest a few dozen green clad infantry units.

"We split up then, time is almost up." Squall said, he turned around and lifted his sword, blocking as another gunblade came at him from behind, and he suddenly found himself emersed in a sea of clashing metal and blunt strikes as the two fought defensively against everyone trying to get a piece of them.

Zell started summoning Bahamut, causing his movements to slow down slightly, his peaked evasion skills had kept him from any damage so far. He started to take some hits now, and beside Squall he was surrounded by attacking solders. A hard blow came to his chest and just as soon a swift foot to his back before he had time to regain himself, followed by a hard kick to the shins causing him to fall to his knees, before he could even respond a streak of lightening tore down from the sky and hammered down on to him with a burning energy that coursed through every inch of his body painfully, causing him to fall to his stomach in a large scorch mark darkening the marble floors.

"Zell, are you alright?" Squall made strong, sweeping slashes with his sword, striking multiple enemies and keeping the rest at bay.

"I'll live." Zell barely got to his feet before himself and Squall faded out of exsistance.

Little warning came of Bahamut's attack except for the loud roar sounding from above that rattled every structure around. They barely had time to realize Squall and Zell had faded before a rain of heavy crimson beams came hammering down into the building from above, one after another. Just as one explosion erupted in a brilliant flare of flames, smoke and heavy debris of flying marble, another came right beside it and more came directly next it, then another and another in a strait line until the whole room had been sweat over. Just as the smoke and flames started to lessen and the debris started to settle, raining to the ground with a loud clatter that drowned out any other sound. All of it started to burn away, clearing the air eerily as the mega flare rained down in to the center of the room and everything was surrounded in a rush of smoke, fire, and silver energy as it detonated.

Squall and Zell reappeared just as the energy started to fade away, in the mist of a nearly decimated room still smoldering. Bahamut managed to kill off most of them, the ones that did survive were still in bad condition, not to mention completely destroy the ceiling. "I'll take left, you take right!" Zell shouted before bolting in the opposite direction, they came all the way here, at lest if they're were gonna get caught then they'd find some things out while they were at it. Squall had no choice but to oblige.

'Ifrit, hold them off.' Squall said, he wasn't gonna leave until he found Griever, or at lest some trace of where they put him. The familiar feeling of Ifrit unjunctioning was simply acknowledged, when Ifrit was junctioned he gave a warmth to him, now it was like removing a blanket or a layer of clothing, it made him feel colder.

Ifrit faded into reality behind him, standing in the center of the rising solders regaining themselves. He was going to enjoy this, he felt like he hadn't done this in a long time even though the time since he last fought had been much shorter then he realized. An impish, dangerous smirk grazed his lips. This would be no problem for him.

! - ! - !

Zell forced his way through a half broken door, the only thing he could find when he reached the far right of the terminal. With him came a cloud of smoke that poured into the corridor like water leaking into a drain. In an instant he was shrouded, remaining unseen by pressing his back against the wall as more men burst out of the doors lining the corridor and charged into the previous room.

'Damn.' Zell cuffed his hands over his mouth and stumbled blindly into the first room, as soon as he felt fresh air he opened his eyes and lowered his hands with deep breaths.

(Zell.) Bahamut called out promptingly.

And knowing what he would say, Zell kicked the door closed and pressed his back against it, hearing the sounds of footsteps passing by outside. 'Wow, you really did a number out there.' Zell let out a sigh of relief, letting his eyes roll over the room. It was small, holding nothing but a chair, a desk, a lamp, a filing cabinet and a bulletin board covered in old notes from when the station was in operation many years back. "This room looks horrible."

Bahamut scanned over the room with his own subliminal vision, his sharp eye were trained to pick up and notice every subtile detail. (Zell, the board.)

"Huh? What?" Zell leaned over the desk and looked at the board carefully.

(The one on top is newer.) Bahamut pointed out to him. Among the weak, slightly yellow from age back from when the station was in service, there was a new, crisp sheet of paper pinned on top.

"Hmm..." Zell snatched the sheet down and let his eyes roll over it. "It's a memo from today...something about intelligence picking up something about Galbadia's next move. Hey, they say their going to Timber next, I should call Zone, Nida should know that." Zell said thoughtfully, his eyes reading on. "...order for everyone with ID GS62-76 to pull out at 11:00 or when base is established. I wonder who those guys are?"

Seeing that was all he'd get out of it, Zell tossed it aside and began rummaging around the room again. 'There has to be something around here.'

! -! - !

'...Wow...' Squall silently shut the door behind him as he entered into one of the larger rooms, stocked high with tall shelves holding weapons of all assortments. He slipped silently through the racks, looking uneasily at the guns, ammunition, explosives and things used in melee combat. 'This is probably a dead end.' He thought to himself, hoping that there was the unlikely event he would find another room where they were keeping Griever.

He didn't take much notice of anything in the room until his eyes caught sight of something. '?' Squall stopped,. looking fully at a rack pressed against the back wall holding boxes full of hand radios. He reached in and picked up one, examining the green device curiously, and with even more curiosity yet he pushed up the switch on the side and turned it on. His ears were met with that familiar buzz of no set signal.

'...' Then his eyes lifted to a sheet of paper posted on the wall. "Attention, remember signal listings change daily, so get the new listings at 09:00h from your transitions coordinating supervisor." Squall looked down at the radio in his hand and tossed the futile device back into the pile. It made sense, to keep from being detected by Galbadia or anyone else who could be listening, like him.

_Buzz_...

"Huh?" Squall picked the device up again when he heard an abnormal crackling and a break in the static.

_Main base...FH, anyone...This is mobile units 3 and 6...-static-...we have a problem transporting subject 48990A...-static-...Requesting assistants immediately, we have 4 men down and one critically injured, subject currently detained but we're immobile._

'Could that be Griever?' Squall thought hopefully. 'Come on, give me a location, a coordinate, something.' There was the sound of a dispatcher asking for a location, which Squall was Ultimenica pleading for.

_Oh shit, it's Galbadia! We're at Coordinates 34E,66N. We need assistance...we're sitting ducks out here. Send-...-Static-._

That was all Squall heard before it cut off and no more response came, but he didn't care. "Damnit, he's not here!" Squall lifted his gunblade hanging tensely at his side, throwing the radio roughly back into the box and darting off in the other direction.

! - ! - !

It seemed Squall and Zell came to the same conclusion at the same time, because they both came bursting into the room from opposite directions .

Ifrit stood in the center of the half ruined room, the floors were broken and uneven, stone debris scattered about, the walls unstable with long fractures looking as if they would cave in. More bodies lay scattered across the ground, and even more live men surrounded him, attacking from all sides. Just by a glance they could tell they had gotten their fair share of hits off on the GF, but by all means were no match.

Ifrit growled, drawing his claws back and leaping forward among the hail of gunfire directed at him and dropping down hard towards the man steadily firing a riffle at him. He landed with a thump, slashing his claws across the man's chest and ripping through his body armor with one fatal swoop, the solder fell backwards in a spray of blood from gashes on his torso and face. It was rather intimidating to see Ifrit in battle, he was just so good at it, it was inhuman.

"Ifrit! Let's go!" Squall called out, forcing his way into the gathering of men coming at Ifrit with broad slashes of his sword. He didn't attempt to junction, they didn't have the time for that. Zell pushed his way into the gathering also, with a few hard blows from behind and a Thundaga spell that sent a pillar of white lighting crashing down from above unto the group of men beside him. "We have to get out of here now!" They did, they were already swamped with more solders then they could handle.

Zell felt a hard slash across his back from a gunblade and forceful Firaga spell that make him stumble off balance and fall to the ground before Ifrit in a blaze of flames. Before he even could get to his feet Ifrit reached down and pulled him up by his collar, then pushed him aside sightly. Then Ifrit crouched lightly, his body igniting in a blaze of heat as he charged forward horns first through the men in front of him blocking his path to the door. And nothing could stand against him, floating just above the ground he flew through any opposition, leaving behind a path of flames in his trail.

Squall and Zell merrily followed the cleared path to the front door.

By the time they hit the fresh, salty, water saturated air of out side they had a host of different solders surrounding them, not to mention the dozen remaining behind. "Oh Shit, Squall, what do we do?" Zell looked around almost in a panic as he saw the men in green suites weaving through the aligned SUVs and helicopters filling the area outside the station.

"Allow me to me handle this." Ifrit suggested, as if anyone else could handle this situation.

"Go ahead." Squall was happy to allow him to, perfectly confident Ifrit could handle it. Ifrit was strong, but a GF like him did the most effective work against multiple enemies, because he was sure to hit a target no matter what attack he used that was generally inaccurate against a single foe.

"Wait a minute, look at how many of those guys their are, even if they don't do that creepy transforming thing." Zell started, his voice starting to drown out slightly from the sounds of footsteps and a large number of other voices around them. "We're stuck on this island! We can't run, not as long as those guys have a base here."

(Don't worry Zell, let me take care of it.) Bahamut said, though not really giving Zell a choice in the matter before unjunctioning himself. The dragon faded into reality beside the boy, pushing him back slightly, offering a silent glance to Ifrit who nodded acknowledgingly.

'Alright...' Ifrit's golden eyes narrowed dangerously and his fist clinched tightly at his side, the ground beginning to rumble as he let out a fierce roar. With his palms facing upward and his hands tense as if grasping something, he lifted his hands in a thrust with a powerful strength displaying and his movements and every one of his muscles. And molten rock burst through the ground around them like an erupting volcano, pillars of it rising from underneath one of the Helicopters, some place behind the alignment of cars, and one dangerously close on the stairs below.

The Helicopter was engulfed in the intense heat of the lava flow and exploded, shooting up into the air with the force of the blast, and leaving the half incinerated frame to fall heavily to the ground in a rain of charred scraps a few feet away right in front of stairs, crushing a few of the closer men, burning some and stalling the others.

Bahamut turned around towards the station with wings outstretched and crouched into a fighting stance. His body trembled with the building of energy, static balls of electricity formed at his shoulders, wavering, distorting, burning the air. Forming at his waist and at his knees, 6 in total. With a dangerously low growl, Bahamut thrust his arms outward and fired the impulse attack, launching the static balls that couldn't seem to fly strait without winding, twisting and turning around each other in flashes of light and small strings of lighting strikes from all sides but still moved froward. The projectiles fired into the crowd beyond the door, disbursing large streaks of lighting beyond point of impact that seemed to be drawn to any and everything close and striking all of them.

"Go!" Bahamut nearly shouted. "We'll meet you."

Squall and Zell nodded before taking their out and retreating through what little opening they had, slipping through the Square and back on to the railroad tracks toward the Garden.

"We'll they're gone." Ifrit said, smirking slightly with fangs bared. "You know what we have to do right?"

"Yes." Bahamut flapped his outstretched wings and ascended into the air. They had to take this base out.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Geez, The people here will hate us forever for this." Zell rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he stared at the black smoke rising into the sky in the distance with the eruption of flames enveloped in the black ashes. He could hear the explosions from here, standing in front of the path leading to the Garden.

"Maybe." Squall folded his arms and watched stoically, he wondered how they could possibly get rid of Gcom's base, this seemed to be working just fine. Though he and Zell would probably have to take care of the remaining Solders themselves. That was if they attacked them, he doubted who ever was left would. "But Gcom is gone, and I doubt they liked the current situation."

"Zell!"

Both of them looked forward curiously when a familiar voice called out, and the body to match as Carbuncle bolted up from the sun panels where the mayors house reside. "Zell! Squall!" Carbuncle leapt into Zell's slightly startled arms and began explaining without a moment's delay. "I saw Alex, he was down there."

Zell managed to pick out the key word in Carbuncle's near incoherent speech. "Was?"

"Allen was there too, Alex saved me again, Allen almost found me."

"Are they still there?" Squall asked.

"No, they left a while ago. Allen and Alex are gone." Carbuncle told him grimly, unable to quell the sinking feeling of guilt from being unable to even attempt to stop the Gcom leader. He didn't stand a chance, he was too weak...'Damnit, I can't do anything against that guy like this. I have to get stronger, I have to make a better shield...' "What did you guys find?"

Squall and Zell looked at each other rather disappointedly. "I found out Galbadia is heading towards Timber." Zell scratched his head lightly and looked away. "Doesn't help us much though."

"Gcom changes it's radio signals, so there is no way to figure out what they're going to do next that way." Squall said. "And I heard a transmission about trouble transporting something at coordinates near Dollet, it could be Griever."

"Whoa, I see you didn't waste any time." Zell smirked. "Great, let's go."

"It's not that simple." Squall said, folding his arms and looking downward thoughtfully. "The unit I heard was attacked by Galbadia, and Galbadia is trying to regain control over Dollet if they haven't already done so. They were sitting ducks." At lest according to the map, which would explain the attack of the mobile units. "If that really is Griever then Gcom is going to send people after that unit. By the time we get there we'll be in the middle of two armies"

"What do you mean by the time we get there?" Zell asked. "We don't have to wait for the Garden to get fixed. We got 3 days and Irvine is here, he can take care of the place while we're gone and we'll be back by the time they finish."

"What about-"

"Look around, They're finished here." Zell told him. "We got um' before they could even finish setting up base, and Allen's gone, they won't set up here again. Not for a while at lest."

He had a point.

"Let's get a boat then."

! - ! - !


	14. Chapter 14: Return to Timber

Chapter 14: Return to Timber

! - ! - !

I know there hasn't been many lemon scenes so far, but it's coming soon, not this chapter, but like...the one after the next. So keep being patient, this one is kinda long, but it's important in the development of Zone, Matthew and Shadow, maybe Watts a little for latter.

And I do so much love Zone.

! - ! - !

"So Zone." Seifer folded his arms and leaned back slightly in his chair, the front legs raising off of the ground a few inches. "Tell me you figured out what we're gonna do next? I'm sick of sitting around."

Zone sat at the other end of the kitchen table, cradling Enix in his arms and feeding him. The bird seemed more willing to eat today, not hesitating at all to devour the soft applesauce on the spoon Zone offered him. He even seemed to like it. "Actually yes." Zone nodded. "Watts, explain it to them."

The group sat almost customarily around the table, awaiting their next objective. Cho, though obviously discontent with the early hour he had to get up, was awake and alert, his elbows propped on the table and his head resting in his hands. Nida was beside him, not nearly as bored and boundlessly more attentive. Shadow laid lazily on the ground behind them, half listening, and Matthew sat on the ground beside the door, listening sleepily.

"Were going to Timber." Watt's explained, standing faithfully behind Zone, his eyes watching the white Chocobo with a fascination that he couldn't describe. "We already know Galbadia has a strong hold on it, and Timber is known for it's shipping, if you have timber, you control just about every rail line."

"So you want to go for their supply lines." Nida said, a realization showing lightly on his face and sounding in his voice when he spoke.

"Exactly..., well, not exactly." Watts lifted his eyes from the Chocobo and looked towards Nida. "You see, we also want to know what they're shipping, and where they're shipping it too."

It sounded all well and good, but there was a problem with that. "That kinda stuff isn't in that back up we went through so much crap to get?" Seifer asked.

"I suppose it wouldn't be." Nida shook his head, "That kind of thing would be too recent, we could possibly dig up some old shipment, but that's probably not what they'd be shipping now."

"Also, I heard some interesting information." Watts added. "The factories in Timber were put back into service with an increasing production."

"So how are we suppose to find that out?" Seifer asked.

Watts shifted his hat around nervously atop his head, pausing slightly before he continued. "That's what you guys have to figure out."

No one said it would be easy. "I'm sure we'll figure out something, there has to be log or something around." Nida said, he'd just figure it out when he got there.

Cho glanced across the table towards Zone, and Enix, watching silently for a moment. "Well, he seems to be doing better."

Zone gently ran his fingers through the soft feathers, noting a few still came out between his fingers, a few too many, and the feathers still had a rough, ruffled, damaged appearance to them. They were were matted and stuck together like they were wet, though they weren't. He was worried about that. Zone's expression stiffened a bit when he held up one of the lose feathers and studied it. "What does it mean when his feathers look like this?" He asked.

Cho didn't need to see the feather, he could see what Zone meant from here, but he could always spot this type of thing from a distance. He'd learned the signs from being around Chocobos for most of his life "A few things, malnutrition mostly, since he's not sick. "Cho explained, lifting his hand to his mouth and taking in a deep breath as a yawn forced it's way to the surface, bringing tears to the corner of his sleepy eyes.

Zone ran his fingers over Enix's head softly, looking down at the bird thoughtfully, Enix was the only one who didn't seem to notice the change in Zone's demeanor, he was too busy eating. "So...what am I suppose to do about that?"

"Give him a balanced diet, lots of vitamins, then they should start looking better." Cho told him, he pushed himself off the table and sat up in his seat, soft brown eyes still focused on Enix. "If not sooner, by the time he molts at lest."

"Hn..."

"You know..." Cho's gaze shift up to Zone and the softness faded into something a little more Cho like. "You know, I _could_ sell you something that can help." He said innocently. "My patented green potion, and since I like you so much, I'll even give it to you at a special discount."

Zone looked at him suspiciously, but it wasn't clear if he was taking an interest in it or not. "Like what?"

Cho grinned slightly, managing to hold in the full smile trying to come through. "I'll give you a bottle for a 100 bucks."

"A hundred? You scamming little brat!" Zone shouted angrily.

Cho lifted his hands easingly, "Zone, this is high quality stuff, and plus this is a pretty good deal. Besides, Enix needs it."

The fact that Enix may very well had needed it tempted Zone to give in, a noticeable pause resided between his response. But then he shook his head and grunted. "Deal my ass." Zone tightened his embrace around the white bird in his lap and looked away stubbornly. "Your not gonna cheat me out of my money this time! I'll do it on my own, thank you very much."

Cho found himself smiling widely in amusement, quickly stifling it back down to nothing more then a small smirk. He could get to Zone, he could see that already. "Alright, your loss." He said, standing up from his seat and pushing his chair in as he walked out of the kitchen. "But next time the price wont be so low."

Nida simply shook his head as he watched the boy leave. "Kid never gives up."

! - ! - !

Watts slipped out of the kitchen, walking absentmindedly through the metal corridor of the moving train. The roar of the train's wheels treading loudly over the steel rails was a muffled hum under his feet, and the movement was minimal. Only a small rocking that came with higher speeds, so soft it was barely noticed. He headed towards the Control room where the rest of the crew was working diligently on getting as close to Timber as they could without being detected.

But he couldn't help but inanely pause when he walked by Matthew's room, it was almost habituary for him to stop and peek inside to check on the boy, even if he had just seen him. It didn't matter how frequently he walked past, he always found himself drawn just to take a peek."Matthew?"

He found the boy laying across the side of his bed with his hands resting behind his head, eyes focused on the ceiling, his legs hanging down freely above the blue carpet that they couldn't quite reach yet. At 13 he was still short, a little shorter then Cho. "Huh?"

Watts rested his shoulder on the door's frame and leaned halfway into it "Are you alright?"

Matthew shifted his eyes away from the ceiling and looked towards him with a subtile smile, strange black eyes sparkling with a small contempt. "Yeah." He nodded slightly. "Why? Do I look ok?"

Watts blinked questioningly but still nodded, he rarely saw Matthew look so...well, happy seemingly with out reason. "You look fine." Every time Zone or Watts left the train and him behind he always got a little sad, at times he felt like a clingy child much too deprived of his parents too often, and other times he became somewhat depressed because he wasn't allowed to go with them, he was like someone desperate to get away. But right now he was neither,"Are you sure your alright?"

Matthew laughed lightly at Watt's look of confusion, stretching his arms out over the blue covers underneath him. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said, letting his eyes close with the intention of going back to sleep.

"Your not gonna try to come?" Watts was so use to it that he almost felt like something was wrong when Matthew didn't try. In the 4 years he'd lived with the boy he'd learned all of his habits and tendencies.

The first 2 weeks after the boy began staying with them, Zone and Matthew couldn't gather the will to leave him alone. He was so afraid, constantly paranoid that Galbadia was gonna find him that he didn't leave his room...well at the time it was still only Riona's former room. After a while, Zone and Watts had to leave the train for things they couldn't put off and left Matthew with the rest o the crew. But Matthew was desperate to go with them, Zone and Watts saved him, they were the only ones who talked to him, who constantly promised they wouldn't allow Galbadia to get at him, who showed something to him he hadn't had in a long time.

Concern, sympathy, protection... love.

And with the need to hold on to that Matthew cling to Zone and Watts as much as he clung to his room. But slowly Matthew had started to become less fearful, and they managed to get rid of most of his paranoia , Matthew was still paranoia about Galbadia to this day. Watts could only marble how Matthew had grown from a shy and fearful 9 year old, to a bold, persistent 13 year old that wouldn't be able to be contained much longer, even if it was for his own protection.

Which was why they had let him take that trip to the Garden, and attempted to get to Dollet. And it's result is why they wouldn't let him go on another endeavor like that, but that wouldn't stop him for long.

Matthew smiled, taking small breaths as he drifted closer and closer to sleep, and dreams of a future. "I don't mind waiting for you guys...I wonder what it's gonna be like at Balamb..."

Watts watched with even more confusion, Balamb?...And as he stared at the blue clad room in front of him, and the boy dressed transversely in his favorite color, in in a blue tank top and jeans, a single thought entered his mind, 'Zone.'

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"This is as close as we can get." Watts stood in front of the side door, leaning against the entrance to the train's head car while he looked over the group departing. And two of them in particular made him worry, Zone was going with them of corse, either out of sheer vindictiveness or the thought that he could be useful, he'd started to go onto missions with the SeeDs. And Enix with him, in part because he couldn't keep the bird away, Enix seemed to know when he was going into danger and worried about him. And because he was useful . "We'll be waiting here, so move as quick as possible. If something happens and we need to move with out you then-"

"Don't worry, if it happens, we'll manage." Nida reassured him, unlocking the door and pushing it open to the fields outside of the city of timber. "Ready?"

He got a affirmative answer from both Seifer and Cho, and with that Nida climbed out towards their destination, his teammates following.

"Zone...are you sure about going?" Watts asked, as he nervously took off his hat and reveiled the blue bandana tied around his head under it, shifting it around uneasily in his hands with his eyes steady over Zone's shoulder on the door. "It's really dangerous."

"I know." The man said simply,riffled through his inventory, checking over everything that Watts had organized for him previously. He carried mostly explosives as before, some distracting, some destructive, some that could be used from a distance. He was like Nida in the boy's choice of weapons, like Nida they were his primary weapons, since neither of them couldn't rely on their physical strength. "I didn't want to take Enix but he won't let go of me, his claws really hurt when he's trying to hold on."

"It's just that...your not the fighting type, you've never been as long as I've known you." Watts sighed, he shifted the hat around more, he didn't want to sound to worried, but still... "This really is dangerous, you should leave this to those guys. Something could happen to you."

"Relax, I'll be fine." Zone reassured him, before fixing his ear piece and steeping out of train.

Watt's took a deep breath and shut the door behind him. "I hope your right." Well, Watts knew he for sure that he wasn't a fighting type. So he would do his job and assist in any way he could, himself in the rest of the crew.

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

The familiar sounds of trains echoed through out the city, heard clearly when the 4 arrived. Though it was much more then Zone was use to.

"Hyne, it's loud as hell in this town." Seifer steeped on to the stone tiled ground of Timber, surrounded by 2 story houses and even larger apartment buildings mixed in small stores and other local business. It was a residential area, it outlined the center of the city where most of the industrial sections resided, not to mention most of the trains.

"I never thought this place would be so big." Cho looked around at the unfamiliar area, he wasn't sure what he was expecting but this was much larger. "We're like a few miles from the train station right? So why is it so loud?"

"Tunnels." Zone explained, "Under this city is a lot of tunnels and railroad tracks, there must be a lot of them running today."

"Is it always like this?" Nida asked. he had faint memories of this city when he was a small child, but just blurry images and the knowledge that he was here before he came to the Garden. Most of his life was like that, like a dream before he woke up.

"No. This is Galbadia." Zone sighed. "And we have to make it Timber again. Alright you guys, let's split up. We're looking for any information on where this trains are going, and what's in them."

"Then what?" Cho asked.

"We take them out. If we do a good job here we can cripple them a little. " Zone turned around to face the SeeDs, looking over them scrutinizingly. "So, who's going with who?"

The three looked at each other, "I'm going with Nida." Cho announced, not really a surprise. Nida would have made him come along with him anyway, he felt better knowing Cho was in eye range and he could make sure the boy didn't do anything rash.

Nida scratched his head, looking down at the ground where the muffled roar of trains came from below. "Well, I guess that leaves you and Seifer, you should take the east side and we can take the tunnels and look over the west. They're base is the hotel downtown right? That would be a good place to look first, if it's anywhere then it'll there first. Cho and I are going to search any places where there are a number of solders gathered, and the trains. Preferably anyones in the tunnels, those carry the least look of being spotted. And try to avoid encountering any solders if you can, they'll call for back up." Nida said... then he looked up at Zone, and remembered the man was standing there. "Is that alright with you?"

Zone lifted his hands."Oh, that's fine, perfect actually."

"Then let's get going."

! - ! - !

! - ! - !

"Hey, are you guys listening?"

Zone pressed his back against the wall of an alley between two stores, looking for a quick second at Seifer pressed against the opposite wall before he turned his eyes back on to the hotel across the street. He could see two guards posted in front of the polished gold metal of the front doors, and from the glass he could see slightly into the lobby. There were no solders there, there wasn't much of anyone there.

Zone lifted his hand to his earpiece, "What?"

"We gotta move, if we don't those Supply trains will catch us for sure."

Zone took another look over at Seifer who shrugged unsurely, he couldn't do anything about it. "Damn...Alright, just try and get back as soon as you can."

"Alright." With one final word a sharp cutting sound came at the end of the transmission and Watts was gone.

"So what are we gonna do when we're done?" Seifer asked, his hand tensely around the handle of his Hyperon.

"We'll just hide out, we'll sneak out of here if we have too." Zone said, sounding clearly distracted, his eyes still fixed on the hotel. "There are more guys around the side and back, It looks like this is the only way in. We're gonna have to fight our way through."

"Fine by me." Seifer smirked slightly, and with out waiting for another word he pushed himself of the wall and dashed out of the alley way.

"Seifer! Wait for me!" Zone quickly followed him, heading out into the street and running strait towards the hotel.

The first thing the solders saw was two men rushing at them with weapons drawn. The two solders in blue uniforms lifted their own gun blades. "Stop right there!" One of the men called out.

"Get out of my way." Seifer drew his sword outward at his side and with quick strides he took a hard slash at the man, who jumped back with a startled flinch.

"Hey!" The second man on the right went for Seifer, but didn't get farther then two steps before Enix came darting at his head beak first with a piercing blow and took a sharp turn upward to the sky evasively. "What the hell!" The man stumbled back a step, clinching his forehead now streaming with blood.

With hard flutters of his wings, Enix landed rather roughly on Zone's shoulder. "I see your wing is getting better." Zone said, noting the bird's speed increased more and more as it's left wing healed and he regained his strength.

"Bastard." The injured guard came at Zone hard, sliding the tip of the gunblade across the stoney ground as he moved, and with all of his strength the blue clad solder swung the sword in an uppercut and slashed it across Zone's chest. Knocking the man to the ground before stepping back to a safe distance.

Seifer attacked the first guard persistently, lifting the sword over his shoulder and slashing it downward into to the man. The blade sliced into the solder's shoulder with a stream of blood and fabric, with a loud out cry the man crashed down to his knees under Seifer's strength. The boy callously sent a hard kick to the guard's chest, knocking him on to his back and removing his body forcefully from the sword. "Tch, weak."

Zone climbed to his feet, one hand steadily over the bloody cut on his chest. "Enix, fire!" At Zone's command, the small Chocobo squawked and leaned forward, his feathers sparkling with the building of a spell. And in a sudden eruption the remaining guard's body went up in raging flames that licked over every inch of his torso with high heat, knocking him against the glass doors of the hotel, burning the man with high heat and causing him to stumble back. But quickly the man's body went out , but before he had time to recover or even realize what was happening, Zone was coming at him already too close to evade.

"Auurrrgga!" With a loud grunt Zone rushed the man, wrapping his arms around the guard's waist and ramming him with his shoulder. Carrying every bit of Zone's momentum, both of them were sent crashing through the glass of the central door and spewing on to the marble floors of the hotel lobby in a spray of glass. The man was knocked unconscious on impact.

Seifer pushed his head through the glass as Enix flew through the opening and reset himself loyally on Zone's shoulder as the man stood up. "Subtle."

"Yeah, like you just running out in the open like that was subtile." Zone snorted, running a hand through the spiky blue hair and shook the glass out. Stepping over the defeated man, Zone walked almost causally across the white marble and red carpet to the finely polished oak front desk where a woman was standing. She was dressed in a white shirt with a blue vest and dress on, apparently the uniform for the hotel. Apparently he saw no threat in her or a her presence.

And she knew no fear in him, but she found it in his presence. "Zone! What are you doing here!" The woman asked, almost startled at his presence, or more so at his entrance.

"The same thing I'm always doing." Zone leaned over the counter without any hesitation, and the woman made no attempt to stop him, watching as the man dug through the drawers under the counter.

"Everybody thought you were dead." The woman said, resting her hand over his chest and breathing a sigh of relief. "Zone what are you doing! Galbadia is all over this place."

"Yeah, that's the general idea." Zone continued to look through the dewars, dumping whatever he wasn't looking for out on the counter or ground with growing aggravation.

"Zone stop this!" The woman whispered harshly, grabbing Zone by the collar of his blue shirt and pushing him back over the counter. She looked at him harshly, speaking in a chastising tone like he was a reckless teenager. "Your gonna get yourself killed this time! If you think you can actually do this with only your small group then your a fool."

Zone lifted his head with a harsh glare, leaning on to the desk and looking the woman strait in the eyes. "Hell, maybe I am!" he shouted, making little attempt to protest her claim, only to show his anger.

"Your thinking too naive! Do you know what Galbadia is! They're an entire country, an entire army." She said, pleading for him to understand. "This is not something _you_ can fight, your not doing anything but setting yourself to die."

"You don't get it do you? None of you get it." Zone's eyes narrowed in resentment, showing just how much he hated this. " Someone has to stand up to these bastards, and I don't care if you guys are too scared to do it, but I'm not." Ignoring her protest, Zone leaned over the counter again and picked up where he left off.

"Zone, I'm begging you to stop this, this is stupid."The woman said, her voice pleading with every sense of reason Zone may have had somewhere inside of him. "You can't do this!" Her voice grew considerably more desperate and her eyes widened slight when she saw Zone pull out a book out of one of the messy piles he'd created one the ground and tucked it messily under his arm. "Is trying this really worth dieing over?"

Zone simply walked off, going past the wide doorway to a smaller area where two elevators and a stair well lead to higher floors. Seifer gave a confused look to the woman behind the desk, then at the storming Zone, even Enix seemed to grow uneasy at the man's anger. Zone didn't pause for a second, simply walking faster then normal. "Yes, it is! I'd rather die then be controlled by some fake democracy."

"Zone, your making this seem worse then it is! Galbadia being here is not that bad!" She called out to his retreating form. "You make it sounds like we're slaves, like we have no freedom at all."

"You are, you just can't see it."

"Or your seeing something that's not there Zone! Zone!" The woman called after him in futility, Zone simply ignored her and pushed his way past the door into the stairs.

Seifer was directly behind him, entering the long pathway who's gray, concrete walls echoed with the sounds of Zone's footsteps acceding the metal stairs. Seifer hurried to catch up with him, trailing directly behind him."Girlfriend?"

Zone snorted, holding the book open and flipping through the pages diligently, it was the guest logs, showing who was staying where. "No."

"Ex?"

"No." Zone repeated firmly, turning the pages even faster as he continued to move along the stairs. "Just someone who lives here." Whatever potential conversation could ensue was discerned when Zone let out an accomplished yelp and slammed the book shut. "Third floor!" By the time Zone found it they had reached the level, Zone paused at the door, stepping to the side out of sight of anyone who may peek through the window.

"Third floor? That's it?" Seifer snorted, "That's way too much work, we have to go through the whole third floor?"

"Nah, just room 327." Zone shut the book and tossed it aside, "It's registered to a low ranking commander, probably the guy in charge over here."

"You memorize these people's name?"

"Of course, you have to know who your fighting against." Zone reached over and grasped the handle of the door, slowly pushing it open and quickly slipping through. Seifer slipped in after him, walking carefully down the red carpeted floors, the elegant designs on the walls, the oak doors inscribed with gold numbers, the paintings, plants and tables holding mundane things that all together created an image of elegance.

It was empty , a rare moment for this hour of the day.

Zone silently counted off the numbers in his head as he passed by the doors, moving through them as quickly as he could, his mind rushing with anticipation knowing that he could be caught at any second. His pulse was pounding loudly in his ears, his blood forced it's way though his veins, heating his skin. He'd forgotten how tense and dangerous situation like this felt.

Zone came to a quick stop in front of Seifer so fast the younger man almost ran into him, then with a hastily movement he pressed his back against the wall beside a door with the numbers 326 nailed to it. "This is it." He whispered.

Seifer slipped to the other side of the door, his eyes focused on the opposite end of the hallway where 7 more doors resided beyond this one, no doubt holding more solders or Galbadian officials. It took more then one person to keep this city in line. "So what? What are we looking for?"

"Anything that has to do with what they're sending out of here." Zone reached over and softly turned the door knob, twisting it a few times before letting go. "Dammit, it's locked."

"The guy probably isn't there, well we can't stand out here!" Seifer whispered back.

"I know..." Zone's eyes shifted around nervously, alright, what was he gonna do? He never really had to improvise under these conditions before. Pick the lock!... No, neither of them knew how.

"They're gonna catch us anyway, just break open the goddamn door!" Seifer growled impatiently. He pushed himself off the wall and slipped in front of the door, sword ready.

"Hey wait! Don't do that!"

"Time's running out, you got any other ideas?"

"No but-" Zone's words were cut off by the sound of the tip of Seifer's Gun blade being thrust into the door, slicing through the metal lock and letting the scrap metal fall uninhibited to the ground with a soft clatter as the door slid open. "Damnit Seifer!"

With the soft sounds of inquiring voices awakening around them, Seifer quickly grabbed Zone's arm and pulled him into the room, so unexpectedly Enix almost fell off his shoulder. Then he mounted himself in front of the door, his sword raised expectantly. "Well it's already done, go look for whatever it is your looking for, I'll hold them off!"

With no other choice, Zone complied and began to study the room with quick looks. It was clearly an expensive hotel room, sunken living area, a large bed room, from what he could see from where he was standing the bathroom was pretty good too. He didn't have time to admire it, he had work to do. "Matthew would love this place." Zone said, speaking almost low enough to be considered only to himself. With quick steps began searching, first going to the closet near the door.

He heard the voices of solders rushing towards this room, followed by the sounds of fighting ensuing. Zone ignored it for the moment, taking note of Enix jumping off of his shoulder and going to his own devices as he began pushing past the clothing that hung there. He wasn't worried about Enix, he was just curious, and he would come back, like a baby duckling. He saw a few boxes stacked in the corner, nothing more. 'No that couldn't be it, it would be too old to be in a box.' With a half panicked frustration, he stood up and shut the door behind him.

Seifer's voice echoed in to the room, amidst the sounds of men's outcries, bullets, and clashing steel. "Hurry the hell up in there!"

"I wouldn't have to hurry if you wouldn't have broken down the door!" Zone slammed the closet door shut and ran into the bed room where Enix was huddled half under the bed, doing what, Zone didn't know exactly. He didn't have time to wonder, he began searching through drawers, pulling them out of the dresser and dumping the contents on the floor before throwing it aside. It was just clothes!

"Kewk! Kewk!"

Zone glanced over his shoulder in half attention, still searching as fast as he knew how to destroy. "What? What is it?"

"Kewk! Kewk!"

With his curiosity at it's peak, Zone curiously left it behind and walked over to the other side of the bed where Enix's tail fathers were peaking out from under the covers. "What do you see?" Zone fell to his knees and lifted the edge of the cover, peaking under the bed. "Hey! Good job little guy!" Zone resisted the urge to pet the white Chocobo on the head when he found a brown leather brief case a few inches from Enix's beak. The sounds of fighting not to far out, ringing loudly in his ears, Zone pried it open and began searching throwing the stray papers and folders inside. 'No...No...' Zone recklessly tossed aside anything in his way, barely looking over it. 'No...' "Hey wait..." Zone stopped, his eyes quickly darting over the paper in his hand, then he reached back and picked up the last paper he tossed aside.

And that's when he realized something...

Zone lifted his hand to his ear piece. "Watts, you still there?"

With the crackle of a radio transmission starting, Watts voice came floating through their communication in response. "Yes."

"I'm not finding anything on shipping, but I am finding inventory sheets for factory outputs here in Timber. No wonder this is Galbadia's shipping base." Zone flipped through more and more sheets of papers, looking over them with sense of enlightened horror "They're making weapons here."

Again Seifer's voice called into the room. "Zone! Hurry up!"

"Come on Enix." At the sound of Zone's voice, the small bird loyally jumped on to his shoulder, he wished he had more time, but he could guess what they were shipping. With his feet carrying him quickly towards the door, he dug through his inventory, and he quickly found what he was looking for. "Seifer!" Now at the forefront of the room, Zone reached out of the open door and pulled Seifer back by his collar. Before he had time to object, Zone flipped the pin off of blue capped Grenade and tossed it to hall, slamming the door behind him.

"What the hell was-" Seifer flinched when he heard a loud burst, followed by a small rush of gray smoke sliding underneath the door.

"Tear gas." Zone flipped the pin out of another Grenade, this one with a black cap on top. "Enix."Zone held out his arms and Enix knowingly leapt into the man's arms, Zone hugged him tightly, protectively... "I hope you can hold your breath..." Zone slipped open the door and tossed the live munition into the hall before slamming it shut behind him. "Watch it!" Zone bolted away from the wall, cradeling the bird tightly, and before Seifer could say a word other wise, the entire wall of the room exploded, ripping through the drywall in a loud blast of flames and debris as simple as a breeze of wind through grass.

"Whoa..." Seifer lifted his arm over his face and followed the sound of Zone's voice and foot steps through the smoke and hazy heat,. both being eaten away more and more every second by the active sprinkles drowned the bodies of dazed and defeated solders. Before anyone was aware, Zone emerged from the wet smoke, Enix cradled tightly in his arms as he bolted toward the stairs. Seifer followed.

! - ! - !

The sounds of footsteps were everywhere, surrounding in almost in a confusing mix of approaching men that made it unclear if more would find them or passed them by, and when. Nida stood 20 feet bellow city streets between two trains that had to connect at lest 20 cars longs, both heated and smoking from anticipating departure, or re-arrival. Beside him Shadow stood, heels raised and eyes narrowed on the 6 solders that surrounded them. It was a very intimidating amount, for Nida at lest, Shadow could care less if he was going up against the world.

"Cho, don't make me regret this." he whispered, his voice drifting into the ear piece that held a direct link with Cho, as well as the rest of his team. Nida knelt down and reached into his inventory, digging out more of the shells holding a single blue stripe, indicating it's type. As expected, one of the blue infantry solders came after him with gunblade raised, as well as two of the men behind him.

Shadow growled offensively, with quick movements he stepped in front of the kneeling Nida protectively and 5 thin, black spikes stretched from his side. Like bullets they shot through the man's stomach and chest, then with drew back into the darkness of the wolf's body, leaving the half dead man to fall to the ground in a stream of blood and an outcry. "Thanks!" With seven rounds loaded into the weapon, Nida abruptly rolled froward across the wooden boards of the tracks and evaded a swipe from a gunblade thrust down on him by one of the 2 men coming at him. The first he dodged, the second man, a little closer, slashed the blade down hard across his back, making the boy fall out of the roll and flat on to his stomach "Uff!"

Shadow growled harshly and lunged forward, he aimed for the second man who hit Nida, but he landed on the first who missed him. Just as well, Shadow went to work, attacking him, slashing at him with his claws, completely mauling him. "!" Nida rolled over the steel rail on the side of the track and on his back, with a quick pull of the slide, Nida cocked the weapon and pulled the trigger of the shot gun, released two scattered rounds into the stomach of the man's armor. That armor protected him for the most part, the solder stumbled back and fell, taking his share of damage.

"Nida? How are you guys doing? Are you alright?" Cho's voice call out into the earpiece.

Nida stumbled to his feet, ignoring the gash on his back that stung with he open air. His eyes immediately looked Shadow's way, who had done a rather brutal job on that particular solder. "Shadow's doing fine." '!' Before Nida realized it he was blind sighted by an ice spell from one of the 4 remaining soldiers, he was suddenly hammered by a bolder of ice that surrounded him with a cold that chilled his flesh and dropped him to the ground from the hard impact. "Uhhaa... I'm getting my ass kicked." Nida was not the fighting type.

Cho was not to far off, two tracks over and divided by two more long trains filled with cargo. He was underneath a third, halfway into one of the many tunnels under timber. Skillfully the boy crawled under the cars, holding onto the axles and staying completely out of sight from the sounds of men all around. "I'm going as fast as I can, are you gonna be alright?" he whispered.

"I'm fine, just move quick."

Cho stopped when he heard the sounds of those passing by lessen on his left side. He didn't hesitate to let go and fell on to the tracks below with a soft thud, quickly rolling out from underneath it. The coast was clear, 'Great...' Cho reached up and grabbed on to the door of the train's car and slid it open rather loudly, that only motivated him to climb in faster and shut it almost completely behind him... "What the hell!" He wasn't expecting of what he saw.

"What? What is it?" Nida asked.

"It's just like Zone said, this thing is full of weapons and stuff, big stuff... " Through the crack of sunlight shining through the partially opened door Cho looked around in amazement at the bundle of long missiles sitting in a rack in front of him. As well as a chain of bullets on their own cart, large enough to only be for an airship...Cho leaned in closer to the rack holding the missiles, and just barely he could see a label... "He wait...I can see something, it says this is going to a..." Cho sequent slightly. "Sector 9, Dollet station... I think all of this stuff is. It has to be." At lest in that car. "Think that's where the other supply trains that almost caught the base went?"

"We'll find out soon enough." Nida told him. He was sure this would lead them to a base Dollet Zone wanted to destroy. "That's good enough, just get out of there, it's too dangerous to keep checking around." Nida told him.

With an unseen nod, Cho slipped out of the bare crack left in the open door and jumped out of the train. "I'm on my way."

! - ! - !

Nida took in a deep, tense breath and lifted the shotgun from where it hung lazily in his grip at his side, and as quick as his strained body would allow, he thrust the barrel of his gun into the soilder's stomach with a hard jabbing blow and fired his last two loaded rounds at the attacking solder, the last of the 6. The shot knocked the blue clad solder off his feet and sent him painfully on his back, before he could think of getting up, Shadow pounced on him and went directly to the neck. The man didn't even get to scream.

"Shadow you sure are..." Nida shifted his eyes away at the sight, resting the shotgun on his shoulders, which felt heavier on his scraped and slashed arms. "...Good at that..."

Shadow shook the blood from his fur, leaving it surely the same midnight black as before. "Feeible humans, nothing at all."

With heavy breaths and a hard stop on the railroad tracks, Cho came rushing back to Nida and Shadow. Though from his rough appearance, the blood streaming from the side of his mouth, the rips in the usual attire of his yellow hooded sweatshirt, and the marks on the metal rod that stood as long as his body's height made it apparent he had encountered a solder, and being unjunctioned he was lucky it was just one. "Nida, Shadow, can we get out of here now?"

Nida lifted his hand to the earpiece, his eyes looking around nervously. Sure that Cho and Shadow, well just Cho since Shadow rejunctioned, would follow, Nida began walking way at a hastened pace. "Zone, Seifer, Where are you?"

Zone's voice came from over the transmitter, "We're getting out of the hotel, drop whatever your doing and meet us at the head of the tunnel near the city's initial station, we're gonna set the bombs and get the hell out of here." He said. Nida slipped in between two connected cars to a particularly long train and climbed over to the other side, Cho following. The next few steps were slow and quiet, to avoid detection as two more Galbadian solders searched through their former path. "Hey Watts, can you get here?"

"We are kinda stuck up here." Watts called back. "All those trains coming from Timber, If my projections are right, the nearest time we can start moving is 3 minutes, and it's gonna be 2 minutes before we get there. That's assuming you take care of those other trains." The man told them. "Then I'm sure we got about a minute afterwords to get away before they catch up with us, since they're gonna be too busy saving their weapons shipments. You got 6 minutes."

Nida crouched down slightly as he came to the stairs leading back to city streets and out of the tunnels, slowly peaking his head up over the railing. There were solders everywhere... Nida looked back at Cho who followed faithfully behind, following his lead to a tee. "We're gonna have to run for it."

"Are you crazy!" Cho whispered harshly, he wasn't blind. "Look at all those guys!"

"We'll be trapped if we don't go now, there is more of then down in the trains and on the tracks then on the streets." Nida opened the barrel of his shotgun and began sliding the handful of rounds he now held hastily into the gun in pairs. Quickly he closed the barrel and cocked the gun, getting ready to move. But first he lifted his hand to his ear piece again, trying to utilize what little time they had without detection. "Zone, Seifer, Where are you?"

Nida gave a slight motion back to Cho and quickly bolted up the stairs and on to the streets at lest 20 feet above the rail road tracks. They slipped into the small stream of solders running in either direction, most heading towards the hotel where Zone had just been.

"We're like..."

Nida quickly looked back when he heard Zone's voice, both he and Cho saw Zone, and Seifer, slip out of an alley way and on to the same street. They only took two steps before some of the passing men recognize them,. "10 seconds from--" And seeing as how the two were just ahead of them, Zone and Seifer couldn't miss them. "Oh, there you guys are."

The 4 of them quickly reconvened, though not before they were surrounded by what looked to be 2 whole squads of enemy solders, yelling at them to drop their weapons and lift their hands into sight. "Uh...anyone got any ideas?" Cho asked hopefully looking around with clear contempt at the men, this wasn't looking too good.

Seifer lifted his sword readily, his eyes daring one of the men to attack, they seemed intent on capturing since the odds were so overwhelming. "I can think of one."

"The hell with that, we're gonna have to escape." Zone said surely, he wasn't to happy with the idea of being potentially captured. "We don't have time for this, we still gotta plant those bombs and if we don't get back to base we don't have a clue when Watts will be able to get back."

"Move, Move! Get out of the way!"

The attention of the four was drawn looked towards the right of the encircled crowd as an angry voice radiated towards them. The source was a man, in a red uniform, clearly a guard that pushed his way through gathered men roughly and walked towards them with angry steps. He didn't carry the gun blades as the others did, two guns were forged around his wrist. "What the hell!"

Cho elbowed Nida in the sided, bringing the older boy's attention on to him. "Who's that guy?" He asked, the long rod held tensely ready in his hands, "And what's with the uniform?"

"He's an officer, a commander infact." Zone answered, he seemed to hold the most knowledge of these things. "Comander J.B Biggs. I thought you quit." He said distastefully.

"I did, They gave me a good reason to come back." Yeah, like his rank back. Biggs's eyes narrowed in a nervous anger when he saw Zone, well, not particularly Zone, he knew from their encounter in Deling that he could take Zone. The one who would be a problem was Seifer, and he'd be stupid to take him on himself, even with back up. "Zone." He scowled, this man seemed to making his job a lot harder lately. "You bastard! You blew up my Hotel room!"

"Not really, just the hallway." Zone folded his arms, looking at the commander with contempt he made no effort to hide. "I'm sure most of the room is still fine."

The next thing Biggs noticed was Enix, the bird that suspiciously went missing when Zone escaped. At first they thought he'd just escaped in the fight, well, it was apparent now that it clearly wasn't the case. "You stole that bird."

At the mention of Enix, Zone grew visibly aggravated. "You Bastard, how the hell could you do that him! He's a goddamn baby for Hyne's sake!"

Biggs became clearly confused at the nature of Zone's outburst, the anger made him curious, curious enough to refrain from trying to beat the living hell out of the man who'd made his life so hard. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"What you guys did to him!" Zone shot back, pointing accusingly. "You starved him and beat him and gave him contaminated food, Hyne knows what else! You're gonna pay for that!" Zone had to stop himself before a string of obscenities followed, an anger like this couldn't end well.

Biggs allowed himself look away from Zone and gaze suspiciously at the white bird sitting on Zone's shoulder...Come to think of it, when he threw Zone in that storage room for containment, that bird did look a little...well at first thought asleep, but really dead was more like it. And even now he could still see some signs the bird had been injured, the bandages around his torso were a dead give away. "Don't blame that on me! I had nothing to do with that thing."

Zone scowled in frustration, but forced himself to relinquish the strong feelings for the moment to look back and the other 3 and focused, this was not the time to let his temper go unchecked. "We don't have time for this." He whispered, but clearly still angry, madness seeping through his voice like poison, causing his words to sound surrealy out of sync with his voice. "The-

"Don't worry about the bombs." Suddenly Watt's voice came crackling over the radio in a silent whisper, carried in heavy breaths that came at a voice that suggested movement. "I got them."

'Huh? Watts?" Zone's face grew slightly confused. "What do you mean."

"I'm taking care of it, just focus on getting out of here."

"Here?" Nida picked up on his choice of words immediately, if he was back on the train, he would have said 'there'. "What do you mean here...Your _here_?"

"Yeah, you guys are a hell of a distraction." He said, pausing to take in a few panting swallows of air, his voice jumped steadily, he seemed to be running. "Don't worry about me, just get out of there." Watts gave his final statement before the transmission cut off.

Seifer's body tensed slightly in anticipation, ready and anxious to move. "You heard the man, let's leave."

"Your not going anywhere!" Biggs yelled, they were ignoring him! Annoyance aside, Biggs lifted his hand, and almost immediately the solders surrounding began backing off with an unspoken understanding. They moved away from the man road, some returning to their post, others just getting to a safer distance.

"Why are they moving?" Cho looked around, clearly pleased at the new odds. "What? You think _your_ gonna stop all of us?"

Biggs picked up a remote on his waist and began pressing unseen buttons with a fumbling quickness. "I don't have too." He looked up from the device at the group, then over to the railroad tracks beyond the railing blocking off the 20 foot drop.

! - ! - !

Watts grunted slightly as he crawled along the bottom of one of the trains he knew too be departing soon, slipping across the axles. It was simple for him, he'd done things like this many times before, helping the crew with repairs and tweaks. It was no problem for him, he was certainly strong enough to do it, his body held a definition to the clearly un-bulky muscles of his arms, legs and torso from years of physical exsertion in actions such as this. "..." Watts took in a deep breath and reached into his inventory and pulled out a device with one hand, and then setting the steel box firmly underneath the floor with a gummy adhesive spread on to it. A red light on it shifted to green and it beeped once, signaling that it had become armed. "4 down, 4 more to go."

With a small sense of accomplishment, Watts let go of the long pipe like line and fell onto the wooden boards of the tracks. With out any resistance he slipped from under the rain and crawled to his feet, dusting off the debris on his yellow vest. 'You guys make a great distraction...' He thought to himself, looking over the next train across from the one he'd just rigged. '?'

This particular train began to rattle, filling the air with the sound of metal slapping against itself with a distinct clanging sound. "What..." Watts could only watch uneasily as the rattling grew strong and strong. "!" He flinched when something large, a steel leg ripped through the top of the train. "Whoa!" Watts stumbled backwards against the side of the opposing train as another burst outward, and another, and a fourth. Ultimately the back of the train's car was ripped completely apart, and in a rolling motion, something fell out.

It was almost a spider in form, a machine with four long legs and a large body. Steam dispersed from it's form, like a rush of wind the white fog sweeping through the path and over a startled Watts, forcing the man to lift his arms over his face to shield himself from the wet heat. "Oh crap..." Watts began to back away slowly and fearfully from the large machine, luckily it didn't even seem to notice him. It simply climbed on to the train the man's back was pressed against and climbed over it like a normal person would bypass a stair. Then leapt into the air.

! - ! - !

With a loud and hard crash a machine crashed into the gap between Zone's team and Biggs, leaving imprints in the ground where the legs landed. Upon it's arrival, Biggs quickly departed, leaving the 4 to face the Target Search Torrent X-0543A.

"You can't be serious..." Cho looked up at the machine in a horrified awe, his hands tightening around the megger rod. "How the hell are we gonna fight that thing!"

"Calm down!" Seifer gave Cho a sharp elbow to the boy's shoulder, forcing him to pay attention. "Galbadia uses Machines, thats what they do, and if someone built it, we can tear it down."

From the black visor that served as everything it needed for it's sight, a red dot streaked across it, then a flurry of red lasers shot out like a snowfall, tracking beams that swept over every inch of the four of them. "I've seen this thing in Galbadia's blueprints." Zone said, a distinct memory of flipping through that page came to mind. "No point in running, we have to fight. Seifer." Zone motion for him to follow and quickly ran past the machine's side, him and the boy managed to slip behind it before it finished configuring itself.

Leaving Nida and Cho alone on one side. "Cho, don't try to fight this thing directly. Draw, use spells, use Shadow, just focus on not getting hit." Nida told him. He quickly reached into his inventory and withdrew a hi-potion, drinking it hastily to heal what damage he had. The machine buzzed slightly with the movement of gears as two machine guns slipped out of it's front legs and aimed directly at the two. With little calibration they opened fire, a trail of bullets ran across the ground and up Nida's body, knocking him backwards on the ground, blood streaming out of the wounds. Cho, more agile of the two, leapt to the side, only to find the gun followed his motions to a tee and trailed after him. Cho strifed backwards and lifted his rod defensively, but the last movement managed to keep him from being stuck as the barrage ran out and stopped.

'He said don't attack directly.' Cho thought to himself, returning to Nida's side, 'I can do this.' Cho held his hands outward, clinching the rod tightly with concentration as he drew a Thunder spell, causing small violet orbs followed by tails of streaks of purple light to come streaming out of the enemy and shooting into himself. He gained 7 of them. 'I'm getting better at this...' Cho slammed the end of his rod to the ground and stood in a position that almost seemed like he was using it to support himself and he cast the newly drawn spell. "Thunder!" From thin air it seemed, directly above the Spider like TST a bolt of lighting cut through the air and stuck the machine, making it twitch slightly.

The TST began sprinting forward towards Cho and Nida, intent on a physical attack. Zone, safely behind the creature, pulled the pin from a grenade with a green gap and tossed it forward lightly, watching it slide perfectly underneath the machine. The TST didn't get to take another step before an eruption of force and fire crashed into the bottom of it's body and threw it back, into the air slightly, no more then a full foot either way. But it easily landed on it's feet, and with scorch marks covering it's underside, it turned toward Seifer and Zone frighteningly fast to retaliate.

From the black visor a thick laser shot out, this time it wasn't a tracking beam, it burned horribly as Enix leapt off of the blue haired man's shoulder and the red stream of light swept over Seifer and Zone and covered their body's like rush of water from the shower as it passed by. Zone stumbled back, his body smoldering and senged while Seifer, notably stronger then the man, managed to stand his ground. "Damn machine." Seifer let the tip of his sword rest against the ground and he held out his hand, his body glowing with the energy of a spell in casting. "Flare!"

A rush of energy burned over the steel body, red as blood, and erupted over the TST in a raging light, leaving behind more scorch marks. A red light flickered in the black visor and another humming buzz came from the device, seemingly readying an attack. But it didn't get the chance to follow through, Nida opened fire on the machine's legs, it's weakest point. The TST visibly winced and nearly faltered, quickly wiping around to it's attacker. Balancing on three legs, the TST sent a jabbing punch at Nida, hard enough to throw him backwards. But Nida managed to land on his feet and slide to a stop, gasping for the air forcibly knocked out of his chest. 'Man, I'm still really weak...' He couldn't help but noticed that when he saw how much that last attack hurt, Nida lifted the shotgun and fired another round of the spreading ammunition into the machine gun on it's front left leg, and with a small burst from the round's impact, it dropped lifelessly, half blown off, with a rush of smoke it fell off line.

'Hey Shadow.' Cho looked over at Nida, wishing at the moment he had more cure spells left. Shadow already knew, and he wordlessly began summoning himself, he was quick about it, the four humans faded away and he appeared like a shadow from a passing cloud over the sun.

"..." He growled at the high pitched sound of turning gears and mechanisms coming to life inside and flinched when it sent out a tracking beam to scan him. He wasn't to partial on concentrated light, with a scowl his body melted into nothing more then a patch of darkness on the ground, sinking into the cracks. Then with an unsourced roar a torrent of thin, black spikes shot out of the ground beneath the machine like a heavy rain from the clouds that fell to the earth, ripping into it's legs, though he couldn't breach the heavy steel of it's main body.

The group re entered reality to find the machine damaged, spark spewed outward in numerous places with small buzzes of malfunctions. Flashes of escaping electricity streaked over it's body, but it still fought. With hard stumps the machine burred parts of it's legs into the ground and like pistons they began pulsating, almost as if they were drilling...

Shadow was the first to realize what was happening, he could feel it even from where he was. (Cho, Get away!)

'Wha-' Cho didn't even have time to take his first step before the ground around the TST burst open in a rush of smoke and dirt, like a wave, a tsunami, the ground buckled up and ripped outward, coming at them like a wall shrouded in a cloud of kicked up dust. It slammed into all of them and pummeled them under the hard stone, a very potent earth quake ability.

"Oh man..." Seifer groaned in pain, holding his chest as he stumbled on to his feet on the now broken ground. The stone street was broken into pieces, so badly that it could hardly be walked on without one losing balance, it slowed then down considerably. That hurt, a lot . "Hey...Hey Zone." Seifer coughed as the dust settled, so much had come that he couldn't see beyond it. That's before he come to realize he'd just been blinded by it all.

Zone grimaced, finding himself flat on his back, he was able to see Enix easing down for a not so graceful landing beside him. The bird leapt off of his shoulder as he always did when ever Zone was stuck. "Cure..." Zone said weakly, and obediently the worried bird stretched out his wings and the white feathers sparkled with the casting of a spell. A green light shined over the man, closing the smaller lacerations, stopping the bleeding of the larger ones. "Thanks little guy." Zone gave the bird a small pat on the head and made the strenuous climb to his feet.

"Cho!" Nida ignored the machine that was staring directly at them, running without hesitation over to the unmoving Cho laying unconscious on his back. 'He's out...' He quickly dug through his inventory, and since he'd organized it well he easily found a Phenix down and dropped it on the boy's face, and quickly it took effect Cho was forcibly knocked into awareness.

Cho's eyes shot open, and as he stared up at Nida his memory came flooding back. "T-Thanks..." 'Damn! Why won't this thing die.'

(Too impatient.) Shadow snorted. (This device, this tool, this thing, can it not be broken?)

'Yeah it can but-'

(Can it not be done by human hands?)

'It can.' Cho pushed himself up and picked up his fallen rod, staring at the paring machine ominously. ' I just cant.'

(Then I will.) Which inevitably meant possession.

'Hold on, wait a minute...' Cho, however, didn't think it would be needed.

Zone held on to his stomach with one hand, glaring at the machine with an aggravated frustration, they had 3 minutes to get out of here! 'D-Damnit...' A golden energy rose from underneath Zone and surrounded his body as he reached his first limit break. "Enix, go to Seifer." Zone's voice held a somewhat darker tent to it, one that made the bird nervous and willing to comply, even if he didn't much like Seifer. Enix hopped off the man's shoulder and flew the short distance to Seifer who caught him unsurely.

Zone reached down to his waist beneath his shirt and began pulling out 4 square devices, he quickly began tying thin, steel wires to the four black boxes with blinking red lights showing they were armed. "Bastard." With impeccable aim he threw them one by one on to the legs of the machine, which immediately latched on, causing the light to turn green. Then the steel wires, still in his hands, were quickly connected to another black device he pulled out of his pocket. The TST turned towards them when it noticed the device, but by then it was too late, Zone finished off his Perimeter Blast limit break with the simple press of a button.

And just as soon the devices erupted in a rush of flames and spewing debris of steel as the TST's legs were blowed off in a brilliant explosion and it's body fell to the ground, barely alive.

Seifer lifted his sword on to his shoulder and looked over the crippled device. He was sure Zone had indeed finished the job. "That thing is gonna blow."

"Let's go!" Zone knelt down and picked up the returning Enix, cradling him protectively in his arms. His heart jumped when he saw flashes of escaping electricity streaking across the machine's body and sparks fly from it's torn and burned appendages. Seifer trailed just behind him as he slipped in the narrow space between it and an abandon building.

Seifer grabbed Nida by the arm and Cho roughly by the hood and tugged them away along forcibly. "Come on you guys. We gotta move, now."

The ground shuttered as the TST overloaded and exploded in a powerful blast, Flames erupted into the sky with a rush of black smoke and a shockwave swept across the ground, blowing away the scraps and debris only for it to be replaced by a rain of mechanized parts, burning with the fire from the explosion.

The task of dodging the falling pieces of steel and raging flames kept any nearly by solders at bay for the moment, it was a great temporary distraction. With two minutes to go they needed it. Nida lifted his hand to the ear piece, his eyes darting around nervously. "Uh, Watts? Where are you?"

"I'm almost back on the train, why?"

"Did you set those bombs?"

"Yes."

In the most calm, not frantic voice he could conjure up, he simply said."Now would be a really good time to set them off." Before lowering his hand and snatching his arm away from Seifer's prying hold.

Less then a second later the first device exploded someplace behind, apparently someplace within a tunnel underground. Even from here they could hear the flames rushing through the bottle neck of the en casing structure under the city streets and spewing out of an exit. Then the second detonated, and it was a lot closer. The sound was deafening, and if one were able to withstand the blast enough to comprehend it, a complication of smaller explosions that came with it including every piece of ammunition in the train caught in the detonation would be heard. All Cho could hear at the point was a loud ringing from temporary loss of hearing.

Flames shot into the air from beyond the railing separating the road from the 20 foot depression where the tracks resided. They were shrouded in a flickering red light and the air was filled with he smell and taste of smoke. The heat was intense even frome this distance, Cho could mentally feel Shadow wince. 'What? What is it?'

(N-Noise...Too loud...)

'Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon.' Cho didn't realize just how sensitive Shadow's hearing was, it must have hurt. Another blast erupted just ahead, spewing more flames and emitting more of the heat, deafening noise and bright red lights, Cho lifted his arm to his face, he was already starting to sweat. And even worse, Shadow was stirring around in his head, Cho was starting to feel his pain. 'Damn...Just hold on.' Cho clasped his hands over his ears, his body tensing visibly.

The third bomb detonated beyond them and Cho winced this time, forcing one eye open and following behind Zone who now slipped down an alleyway where a descending stairway led to a tunnel. He seemed to know his way around. 'Don't...Don't worry.' Cho shut his eyes again and forced himself to keep running, feeling the pain grow worse and worse inside of his head while the Junction grew deeper and deeper.

(C-cho? What are you doing?) Shadow asked, confused to find his own pain from the sensitive sense of hearing dulling. That noise, that unbearable noise that left his ears ringing louder then his own thoughts It was a splitting ache that felt like his head was being torn apart from the inside, and it was starting to fade away, despite the fact he could clearly hear the noise.

'You c-can't take t-the noise...' Cho thought, though his mind was clearly scattered, not by the noise, his hearing wasn't honed enough to do that much. It was the pain he was taking on, in a similar manner to how a GF took the damage inflicted on their charge right before summoning. A junction went both ways, and by simply paying attention he knew how to use it, it was a simple task. Just not one to keep up, he nearly fell as the full pain onset.

Nida looked back in the dark tunnel, across the abandoned tracks to Cho who had fallen behind and was now staggering. "Cho? What's wrong?" He stopped, waving Zone and Seifer to keep going.

"I...I can't..." Cho feel his knees on the wooden boards, clinching his head painfully.

(Cho...Why...) For some reason this action confused Shadow to the point where it even started to scared him. (Why, I am the GF, I'm suppose to protect you.)

Cho took in a deep breath to keep from crying out.. 'We're...p-partners remember...it's not a one way thing..'

Nida knelt down beside Cho and with out question picked the boy up on to his shoulder. "Don't give up yet, we're almost there." Nida grunted slightly as he stood to his feet, feeling his own wounds stinging at the strain.

Shadow took clear notice of Nida's action, though still focused on Cho. (You would do something like this, take on pain and physical harm? But, your so weak, why?)

'Because...I want to...' Cho focused his mind on the pain to keep back the coming darkness and fading awareness awake, he couldn't black out, he'd already took on this pain, he'd hold on to it as long as he could.

! - ! - !


End file.
